Byways

to
Blessedness
by
James Allen
Foreword 2
Chapter 1: Right Beginnings 4
Chapter 2: Small Tasks And Duties 9
Chapter 3: Transcending Difficulties and Perplexities 15
Chapter 4: Burden-Dropping 19
Chapter 5: Hidden Sacrifices 25
Chapter 6: Sympathy 33
Chapter 7: Forgiveness 40
Chapter 8: Seeing No Evil 45
Chapter 9: Abiding Joy 56
Chapter 10: Silentness 60
Chapter 11: Solitude 65
Chapter 12: Standing Alone 71
Chapter 13: Understanding the Simple Laws 75
Chapter 14: Happy Endings 82
Foreword
Along the highways of Burma there is placed, at regular distances away from the dust of
the road, and under the cool shade of a group of trees, a small wooden building called a
"rest-house", where the weary traveller may rest a while, and allay his thirst and assuage
his hunger and fatigue by partaking of the food and water which the kindly inhabitants
place there as a religious duty.

Along the great highway of life there are such resting places; away from the heat of
passion and the dust of disappointment, under the cool and refreshing shade of lowly
Wisdom, are the humble, unimposing "rest-houses" of peace, and the little, almost
unnoticed, byways of blessedness, where alone the weary and footsore can find strength
and healing.

Nor can these byways be ignored without suffering. Along the great road of life, hurrying,
and eager to reach some illusive goal, presses the multitude, despising the apparently
insignificant "rest-houses" of true thought, not heeding the narrow little byways of
blessed action, which they regard as unimportant; and hour by hour men are fainting and
falling, and numbers that cannot be counted perish of heart-hunger, heart-thirst, and
heart-fatigue.

But he who will step aside from the passionate press, and will deign to notice and to
enter the byways which are here presented, his dusty feet shall press the incomparable
flowers of blessedness, his eyes be gladdened with their beauty, and his mind refreshed
with their sweet perfume. Rested and sustained, he will escape the fever and the
delirium of life, and, strong and happy, he will not fall fainting in the dust, nor perish by
the way, but will successfully accomplish his journey.

James Allen

Broad Park Avenue

Ilfracombe, England.
 Chapter 1: Right Beginnings
"All common things, each day's events,
That with the hour begin and end;
Our pleasures and our discontents
Are rounds by which we may ascend."

*********

"We have not wings, we cannot soar;

But we have feet to scale and climb."

--- Longfellow.

"For common life, its wants

And ways, would I set forth in beauteous hues."

--- Browning.

Life is full of beginnings. They are presented every day and every hour to every person.
Most beginnings are small, and appear trivial and insignificant, but in reality they are the
most important things in life.

See how in the material world everything proceeds from small beginnings. The mightiest
river is at first a rivulet over which the grasshopper could leap; the great flood
commences with a few drops of rain; the sturdy oak, which has endured the storms of a
thousand winters, was once an acorn; and the smouldering match, carelessly dropped,
may be the means of devastating a whole town by fire.

Consider, also, how in the spiritual world the greatest things proceed from smallest
beginnings. A light fancy may be the inception of a wonderful invention or an immortal
work of art; a spoken sentence may turn the tide of history; a pure thought entertained
may lead to the exercise of a world-wide regenerative power; and a momentary animal
impulse may lead to the darkest crime.

Have you yet discovered the vast importance of beginnings? Do you really know what is
involved in a beginning? Do you know the number of beginnings you are continuosly
making, and realise their full import? If not, come with me for a short time, and
thoughtfully explore this much ignored byway of blessedness, for blessed it is when
wisely resorted to, and much strength and comfort it holds for the understanding mind.
A beginning is a cause, and as such it must be followed by an effect, or a train of effects,
and the effect will always be of the same nature as the cause. The nature of an initial
impulse will always determine the body of its results. A beginning also presupposes an
ending, a consummation, achievement, or goal. A gate leads to a path, and the path
leads to some particular destination; so a beginning leads to results, and results lead to
a completion.

There are right beginnings and wrong beginnings, which are followed by effects of a like
nature. You can, by careful thought, avoid wrong beginnings and make right beginnings,
and so escape evil results and enjoy good results.

There are beginnings over which you have no control and authority- these are without, in
the universe, in the world of nature around you, and in other people who have the same
liberty as yourself.

Do not concern yourself with these beginnings, but direct your energies and attention to
those beginnings over which you have complete control and authority, and which bring
about the complicated web of results which compose your life. These beginnings are to
be found in the realm of your own thoughts and actions; in your mental attitude under the
variety of circumstances through which you pass; in your conduct day by day - in short,
in your life as you make it, which is your world of good or ill.

In aiming at the life of Blessedness one of the simplest beginnings to be considered and
rightly made is that which we all make everyday - namely, the beginning of each day's
life.

How do you begin each day? At what hour do you rise? How do you commence your
duties? In what frame of mind do you enter upon the sacred life of a new day? What
answer can you give your heart to these important questions? You will find that much
happiness or unhappiness follows upon the right or wrong beginning of the day, and that,
when every day is wisely begun, happy and harmonious sequences will mark its course,
and life in its totality will not fall far short of the ideal blessedness.

It is a right and strong beginning to the day to rise at an early hour. Even if your worldly
duty does not demand it, it is wise to make of it a duty, and begin the day strongly by
shaking off indolence. How are you to develop strength of will and mind and body if you
begin every day by yielding to weakness? Self-indulgence is always followed by
unhappiness. People who lie in bed till a late hour are never bright and cheerful and
fresh, but are the prey of irritabilities, depressions, debilities, nervous disorders,
abnormal fancies, and all unhappy moods. This is the heavy price which they have to
pay for their daily indulgence. Yet, so blinding is the pandering to self that, like the
drunkard who takes his daily dram in the belief that it is bracing up the nerves which it is
all the time shattering, so the lie-a-bed is convinced that long hours of ease are
necessary for him as a possible remedy for those very moods and weaknesses and
disorders of which his indulgence is the cause. Men and women are totally unaware of
the great losses which they entail by this common indulgence: loss of strength both of
mind and body, loss of prosperity, loss of knowledge, and loss of happiness.

Begin the day, then, by rising early. If you have no object in doing so, never mind; get
up, and go out for a gentle walk among the beauties of nature, and you will experience a
buoyancy, a freshness, and a delight, not to say a peace of mind, which will amply
reward you for your effort. One good effort is followed by another; and when a man
begins the day by rising early, even though with no other purpose in view, he will find
that the silent early hour is conducive to clearness of mind and calmness of thought, and
that his early morning walk is enabling him to become a consecutive thinker, and so to
see life and its problems, as well as himself and his affairs, in a clearer light; and so in
time he will rise early with the express purpose of preparing and harmonising his mind to
meet any and every difficulty with wisdom and calm strength.

There is, indeed, a spiritual influence in the early morning hour, a divine silence and an
inexpressible repose, and he who, purposeful and strong, throws off the mantle of ease
and climbs the hills to greet the morning sun will thereby climb no inconsiderable
distance up the hills of blessedness and truth.

The right beginning of the day will be followed by cheerfulness at the morning meal,
permeating the house-hold with a sunny influence; and the tasks and duties of the day
will be undertaken in a strong and confident spirit, and the whole day will be well lived.

Then there is a sense in which every day may be regarded as the beginning of a new
life, in which one can think, act, and live newly, and in a wiser and better spirit.

"Every day is a fresh beginning;

Every morn is the world made new,
Ye who are weary of sorrow and sinning,
Here is a beautiful hope for you,
A hope for me and a hope for you."

Do not dwell upon the sins and mistakes of yesterday so exclusively as to have no
energy and mind left for living rightly today, and do not think that the sins of yesterday
can prevent you from living purely today. Begin today aright, and, aided by the
accumulated experiences of all your past days, live it better than any of your previous
days; but you cannot possibly live it better unless you begin it better. The character of
the whole day depends upon the way it is begun.
Another beginning which is of great importance is the beginning of any particular and
responsible undertaking. How does a man begin the building of a house? He first
secures a plan of the proposed edifice and then proceeds to build according to the plan,
scrupulously following it in every detail, beginning with the foundation. Should he neglect
the beginning - namely, the obtaining of a mathematical plan - his labour would be
wasted, and his building, should it reach completion without tumbling to pieces, would be
insecure and worthless. The same law holds good in any important work: the right
beginning and first essential is a definite mental plan on which to build. Nature will
have no slipshod work, no slovenliness, and she annihilates confusion, or rather,
confusion is in itself annihilation. Order, definiteness, purpose eternally and universally
prevail, and he who in his operations ignores these mathematical elements at once
deprives himself of substantiality, completeness, success.

"Life without a plan,

As useless as the moment it began,
Serves merely as a soil for discontent
To thrive in, an encumbrance ere half spent."

Let a man start in business without having in his mind a perfectly formed plan to
systematically pursue and he will be incoherent in his efforts and will fail in his business
operations. The laws which must be observed in the building of a house also operate in
the building up of a business. A definite plan is followed by coherent effort; and coherent
effort is followed by well-knit and orderly results - to wit, completeness, perfection,
success, happiness.

But not only mechanical and commercial enterprise - all undertakings, of whatsoever
nature, come under this law. The author's book, the artist's picture, the orator's speech,
the reformer's work, the inventor's machine, the general's campaign, are all carefully
planned in the mind before the attempt to actualise them is commenced; and in
accordance with the unity, solidarity, and perfection of the original mental plan will be the
actual and ultimate success of the undertaking.

Successful men, influential men, good men are those who, amongst other things, have
learned the value and utilised the power which lies hidden in those obscure beginnings
which the foolish man passes by as "insignificant."

But the most important beginning of all - that upon which afflication or blessedness
inevitably depends, yet is most neglected and least understood - is the inception of
thought in the hidden, but causal region of the mind. Your whole life is a series of effects
having their cause in thought - in your own thought. All conduct is made and moulded by
thought; all deeds, good or bad, are thoughts made visible. A seed put into the ground is
the beginning of a plant or tree; the seed germinates, the plant or tree comes forth into
the light and evolves. A thought put into the mind is the beginning of a line of conduct:
the thought first sends down its roots into the mind, and then pushes forth into the light in
the forms of actions or conduct, which evolve into character and destiny.

Hateful, angry, envious, covetous, and impure thoughts are wrong beginnings, which
lead to painful results. Loving, gentle, kind, unselfish and pure thoughts are right
beginnings, which lead to blissful results. This is so simple, so plain, so absolutely true!
and yet how neglected, how evaded, and how little understood!

The gardener who most carefully studies how, when, and where to put in his seeds
obtains the best results and gains the greater horticultural knowledge. The best crops
gladden the soul of him who makes the best beginning. The man who most patiently
studies how to put into his mind the seeds of strong, wholesome, and charitable
thoughts, will obtain the best results in life, and will gain greater knowledge of truth. The
greatest blessedness comes to him, who infuses into his mind the purest and noblest
thoughts.

None but right acts can follow right thoughts; none but a right life can follow right acts -
and by living a right life all blessedness is achieved.

He who considers the nature and import of his thoughts, who strives daily to eliminate
bad thoughts and supplant them with good, comes at last to see that thoughts are the
beginnings of results which affect every fibre of his being, which potently influence every
event and circumstance of his life. And when he thus sees, he thinks only right thoughts,
chooses to make only those mental beginnings which lead to peace and blessedness.

Wrong thoughts are painful in their inception, painful in their growth, and painful in their
fruitage. Right thoughts are blissful in their inception, blissful in their growth, and blissful
in their fruitage.

Many are the right beginnings which a man must discover and adopt on his way to
wisdom; but that which is first and last, most important and all embracing, which is the
source and fountain of all abiding happiness, is the right beginning of the mental
operations - this implies the steady development of self-control, will-power,
steadfastness, strength, purity, gentleness, insight, and comprehension. It leads to the
perfecting of life, for he who thinks perfectly has abolished all unhappiness, his every
moment is peaceful, his years are rounded with bliss - he has attained to the complete
and perfect blessedness.
 Chapter 2: Small Tasks and Duties
"Wrapped in our nearest duty is the key
Which shall unlock for us the Heavenly Gate:
Unveiled, the Heavenly Vision he shall see,
Who cometh not too early nor too late."

"Like the star

That shines afar,
Without haste
And without rest,

Let each man wheel with steady sway

Round the task that rules the day,
And do his best."

--- Goethe

As pain and bliss inevitably follow on wrong and right beginnings, so unhappiness and
blessedness are inseparably bound up with small tasks and duties. Not that a duty has
any power of itself to bestow happiness or the reverse - this is contained in the attitude
of the mind which is assumed towards the duty - and everything depends upon the way
in which it is approached and done.

Not only great happiness but great power arises from doing little things unselfishly,
wisely, and perfectly, for life in its totality is made up of little things. Wisdom inheres in
the common details of everyday existence, and when the parts are made perfect the
Whole will be without blemish.

Everything in the universe is made up of little things, and the perfection of the great is
based upon the perfection of the small. If any detail of the universe were imperfect the
Whole would be imperfect. If any particle were omitted the aggregate would cease to be.
Without a grain of dust there could be no world, and the world is perfect because the
grain of dust is perfect. Neglect of the small is confusion of the great. The snowflake is
as perfect as the star; the dew drop is as symmetrical as the planet; the microbe is not
less mathematically proportioned than the man. By laying stone upon stone, plumbing
and fitting each with perfect adjustment, the temple at last stands forth in all its
architectural beauty. The small precedes the great. The small is not merely the
apologetic attendant of the great, it is its master and informing genius.
Vain men are ambitious to be great, and look about to do some great thing, ignoring and
despising the little tasks which call for immediate attention, and in the doing of which
there is no vainglory, regarding such "trivialities" as beneath the notice of great men. The
fool lacks knowledge because he lacks humility, and, inflated with the thought of self-
importance, he aims at impossible things.

The great man has become such by the scrupulous and unselfish attention which he has
given to small duties. He has become wise and powerful by sacrificing ambition and
pride in the doing of those necessary things which evoke no applause and promise no
reward. He never sought greatness; he sought faithfulness, unselfishness, integrity,
truth; and in finding these in the common round of small tasks and duties he
unconsciously ascended to the level of greatness.

The great man knows the vast value that inheres in moments, words, greetings, meals,
apparel, correspondence, rest, work, detached efforts, fleeting obligations, in the
thousand-and-one little things which press upon him for attention - briefly, in the common
details of life. He sees everything as divinely apportioned, needing only the application of
dispassionate thought and action on his part to render life blessed and perfect. He
neglects nothing; does not hurry; seeks to escape nothing but error and folly; attends to
every duty as it is presented to him, and does not postpone and regret. By giving himself
unreservedly to his nearest duty, forgetting alike pleasure and pain, he attains to that
combined childlike simplicity and unconscious power which is greatness.

The advice of Confucius to his disciples: "Eat at your own table as you would at the table
of a king," emphasises the immeasurable importance of little things, as also does that
aphorism of another great teacher, Buddha: "If anything is to be done, let a man do it, let
him attack it vigorously." To neglect small tasks, or to execute them in a perfunctory or
slovenly manner, is a mark of weakness and folly.

The giving of one's entire and unselfish attention to every duty in its proper place
evolves, by a natural growth, higher and ever higher combinations of duties, because it
evolves power and develops talent, genius, goodness, character. A man ascends into
greatness as naturally and unconsciously as the plant evolves a flower, and in the same
manner, by fitting, with unabated energy and diligence, every effort and detail in its
proper place, thus harmonising his life and character without friction or waste of power.

Of the almost innumerable recipes for the development of "will-power" and

"concentration" which are now scattered abroad, one looks almost in vain for any
wholesome hint applicable to vital experience. "Breathings," "postures," "visualisings,"
"occult methods" are practices as delusive as they are artificial and remote from all that
is real and essential in life; while the true path - the path of duty, of earnest and
undivided application to one's daily task - along which alone will-power and
concentration of thought can be wholesomely and normally developed, remains
unknown, untrodden, unexplored even by the elect.

All unnatural forcing and straining in order to gain "power" should be abandoned. There
is no way from childhood to manhood but by growth; nor is there any other way from folly
to wisdom, from ignorance to knowledge, from weakness to strength. A man must learn
how to grow little by little and day after day, by adding thought to thought, effort to effort,
deed to deed.

It is true the fakir gains some sort of power by his long persistence in "postures" and
"mortifications," but it is a power which is bought at a heavy price, and that price is an
equal loss of strength in another direction. He is never a strong, useful character, but a
mere fantastic specialist in some psychological trick. He is not a developed man, he is a
maimed man.

True will-power consists in overcoming the irritabilities, follies, rash impulses and moral
lapses which accompany the daily life of the individual, and which are apt to manifest
themselves on every slight provocation; and in developing calmness, self-possession,
and dispassionate action in the press and heat of worldly duties, and in the midst of the
passionate and unbalanced throng. Anything short of this is not true power, and this can
only be developed along the normal pathway of steady growth in executing ever more
and more masterfully, unselfishly, and perfectly the daily round of legitimate tasks and
pressing obligations.

The master is not he whose "psychological accomplishments," rounded by mystery and

wonder, leave him in unguarded moments the prey of irritability, of regret, of
peevishness, or other petty folly or vice, but he whose "mastery" is manifested in
fortitude, non-resentment, steadfastness, calmness, and infinite patience. The true
Master is master of himself; anything other than this is not mastery but delusion.

The man who sets his whole mind on the doing of each task as it is presented, who puts
into it energy and intelligence, shutting all else out from his mind, and striving to do that
one thing, no matter how small, completely and perfectly, detaching himself from all
reward in his task - that man will every day be acquiring greater command over his mind,
and will, by ever-ascending degrees, become at last a man of power - a Master.

Put yourself unreservedly into your present task, and so work, so act, so live that you
shall leave each task a finished piece of labour - this is the true way to the acquisition of
will-power, concentration of thought, and conservation of energy. Look not about for
magical formulas, for strained and artificial methods. Every resource is already with you
and within you. You have but to learn how wisely to apply yourself in that place which
you now occupy. Until this is done those other and higher places which are waiting for
you cannot be taken possession of, cannot be reached.

There is no way to strength and wisdom but by acting strongly and wisely in the present
moment, and each present moment reveals its own task. The great man, the wise man
does small things greatly regarding nothing as "trivial" that is necessary. The weak man,
the foolish man, does small things carelessly, and meanly, hankering the while after,
some greater work for which, in his neglect and inability in small matters, he is
ceaselessly advertising his incapacity. The man who leasts governs himself is always
more ambitious to govern others and assume important responsibilities. "Who so
neglects a thing which he suspects he ought to do because it seems too small a thing is
deceiving himself; it is not too little but too great for him that he doeth it not."

And just as the strong doing of small tasks leads to greater strength, so the doing of
those tasks weakly leads to greater weakness. What a man is in his fractional duties that
he is in the aggregate of his character. Weakness is as great a source of suffering as
sin, and there can be no true blessedness until some measure of strength of character is
evolved. The weak man becomes strong by attaching value to little things and doing
them accordingly. The strong man becomes weak by falling into looseness and neglect
concerning small things, thereby forfeiting his simple wisdom and squandering his
energy. Herein we see the beneficent operation of that law of growth which is expressed
in the little understood words: "To him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath
not shall be taken away even that which he hath." Man instantly gains or loses by every
thought he thinks, every word he says, every act he does, and every work to which he
puts hand and heart. His character from moment to moment is a graduating quantity, to
or from which some measure of good is added or subtracted during every moment, and
the gain or loss is involved, even to absoluteness, in each thought, word, and deed as
these follow each other in rapid sequence.

He who masters the small becomes the rightful possessor of the great. He who is
mastered by the small can achieve no superlative victory.

Life is a kind of cooperative trust in which the whole is of the nature of, and dependent
upon, the unit.

A successful business, a perfect machine, a glorious temple, or a beautiful character is

evolved from the perfect adjustment of a multliplicity of parts.

The foolish man thinks that little faults, little indulgences, little sins, are of no
consequence; he persuades himself that so long as he does not commit flagrant
immoralities he is virtuous, and even holy; but he is thereby deprived of virtue, and
holiness, and the world knows him accordingly; it does not reverence, adore, and love
him; it passes him by; he is reckoned of no account; his influence is destroyed. The
efforts of such a man to make the world virtuous, his exhortations to his fellow-men to
abandon great vices, are empty of substance and barren of fruitage. The insignificance
which he attaches to his small vices permeates his whole character and is the measure
of his manhood: he is regarded as an insignificant man. The levity with which he
commits his errors and publishes his weakness comes back to him in the form of neglect
and loss of influence and respect: he is not sought after, for who will seek to be taught of
folly? His work does not prosper, for who will lean upon a reed? His words fall upon deaf
ears, for they are void of practice, wisdom, and experience, and who will go after an
echo?

The wise man, or he who is becoming wise, sees the danger which lurks in those
common personal faults which men mostly commit thoughtlessly and with impunity; he
also sees the salvation which inheres in the abandonment of those faults, as well as in
the practice of virtuous thoughts and acts which the majority disregard as unimportant,
and in those quiet but momentous daily conquests over self which are hidden from
other's eyes.

He who regards his molest delinquencies as of the gravest nature becomes a saint. He
sees the far reaching influence, good or bad, which extends from his every thought and
act, and how he himself is made or unmade by the soundness or unsoundness of those
innumerable details of conduct which combine to form his character and life, and so he
watches, guards, purifies, and perfects himself little by little and step by step.

As the ocean is composed of drops, the earth of grains, and the stars of points of light,
so is life composed of thoughts and acts; without these, life would not be. Every man's
life, therefore, is what his apparently detached thoughts and acts make it. There
combination is himself. As the year consists, of a given number of sequential moments,
so a man's character and life consists of a given number of sequential thoughts and
deeds, and the finished whole will bear the impress of the parts.

"All sorts of things and weather

Must be taken in together,
To make up a year
And a sphere."

Little kindnesses, generosities, and sacrifices make up a kind and generous character.
Little renounciations, endurances, and victories over self make up a strong and noble
character. The truly honest man is honest in the minutest details of his life. The noble
man is noble in every little thing he says and does.
It is a fatal delusion with men to think that life is detached from the momentary thought
and act, and not to understand that the passing thought and deed is the foundation and
substance of life. When this is fully understood all things are seen as sacred, and every
act becomes religious. Truth is wrapped up in infinitesimal details. Thoroughness is
genius.

"Possessions vanish, and opinions change,

And passions hold a fluctuating seat:
But, by the storms of circumstance unshaken,
And subject neither to eclipse nor wane,
Duty exists."

You do not live your life in the mass; you live it in the fragments and from these the mass
emerges. You can will to live each fragment nobly if you choose, and, this being done,
there can be no particle of baseness in the finished whole. The saying "Take care of the
pence and the pounds will take care of themselves" is seen to be more than worldly-wise
when applied spiritually, for, to take care of the present, passing act, knowing that by so
doing the total sum and amount of life and character will be safely preserved, is to be
divinely wise. Do not long to do great and laudable things; these will do themselves if
you do your present task nobly. Do not chafe at the restrictions and limitations of your
present duty but be nobly unselfish in the doing of it, putting aside discontent,
listlessness, and the foolish contemplation of great deeds which lie beyond you - and lo!
already the greatness for which you sighed begins to appear. There is no weakness like
peevishness. Aspire to the attainment of inward nobility, not outward glory, and begin to
attain it where you now are.

The irksomeness and sting which you feel to be in your task are in your mind only. Alter
your attitude of mind towards it, and at once the crooked path is made straight, the
unhappiness is turned into joy.

See that your every fleeting moment is strong, pure, and purposeful; put earnestness
and unselfishness into every passing task and duty; make your every thought, word, and
deed sweet and true; thus learning, by practice and experience, the inestimable value of
the small things of life, you will gather, little by little, abundant and enduring blessedness.
 Chapter 3:
Transcending Difficulties and Perplexities
"Man who man would be
Must rule the empire of himself; in it
Must be supreme, establishing his throne
On vanquished will, quelling the anarchy
Of hopes and fears, being himself alone."

-----Shelley

"Have you missed in your aim? Well, the mark is still shining.
Did you faint in the race? Well, take breath for the next."

-----Ellu Wheelar Wilcose.

To suggest that any degree of blessedness may be extracted from difficulties and
perplexities will doubtless appear absurd to many; but truth is ever paradoxical, and the
curses of the foolish are the blessings of the wise. Difficulties arise in ignorance and
weakness, and they call for the attainment of knowledge and the acquisition of the
strength.

As understanding is acquired by right living, difficulties become fewer, and perplexities

gradually fade away, like the perishable mists which they are.

Your difficulty is not contained, primarily, in the situation which gave rise to it, but in the
mental state with which you regard that situation and which you bring to bear upon it.
That which is difficult to a child presents no difficulty to the matured mind of the man; and
that which to the mind of an unintelligent man is surrounded with perplexity would afford
no ground for perplexity to an intelligent man.

To the untutored and undeveloped mind of the child how great, and apparently
insurmountable, appear the difficulties which are involved in the learning of some simple
lesson. How many anxious and laborious hours and days, or even months, its solution
costs; and, frequently, how many tears are shed in hopeless contemplation of the
unmastered, and apparently insurmountable, wall of difficulty! Yet the difficulty is in the
ignorance of the child only, and its conquest and solution is absolutely necessary for the
development of intelligence and for the ultimate welfare, happiness, and usefulness of
the child.
Even so is it with the difficulties of life with which older children are confronted, and
which it is imperative, for their own growth and development, that they should solve and
surmount; and each difficulty solved means so much more experience gained, so much
more insight and wisdom acquired; it means a valuable lesson learned, with the added
gladness and freedom of a task successfully accomplished.

What is the real nature of a difficulty? Is it not a situation which is not fully grasped and
understood in all it bearings? As such, it calls for the development and exercise of a
deeper insight and broader intelligence than has hitherto been exercised. It is an urgent
necessity calling forth unused energy, and demanding the expression and employment
of latent power and hidden resources. It is, therefore, a good angel, albeit disguised; a
friend, a teacher; and, when calmly listened to and rightly understood, leads to larger
blessedness and higher wisdom.

Without difficulties there could be no progress, no unfoldment, no evolution; universal

stagnation would prevail, and humanity would perish of ennui.

Let a man rejoice when he is confronted with obstacles, for it means that he has reached
the end of some particular line of indifference or folly, and is now called upon to summon
up all his energy and intelligence in order to extricate himself, and to find a better way;
that the powers within him are crying out for greater freedom, for enlarged exercise and
scope.

No situation can be difficult of itself; it is the lack of insight into its intricacies, and the
want of wisdom in dealing with it, which give rise to the difficulty. Immeasurable,
therefore, is the gain of a difficulty transcended.

Difficulties do not spring into existence arbitrarily and accidentally; they have their
causes, and are called forth by the law of evolution itself, by the growing necessities of
the man's being. Herein resides their blessedness.

There are ways of conduct which end inevitably in complications and perplexities, and
their are ways of conduct which lead, just as inevitably, out of troublesome complexities.
Howsoever tightly a man may have bound himself round he can always unbind himself.
Into whatsover morasses of trouble and trackless wastes of perplexity he may have
ignorantly wandered he can always find his way out again, can always recover the lost
highway of uninvolved simplicity which leads, straight and clear, to the sunny city of wise
and blessed action. But he will never do this by sitting down and weeping in despair, nor
by complaining and worrying and aimlessly wishing he were differently situated. His
dilemma calls for alertness, logical thought, and calm calculation. His position requires
that he shall strongly command himself; that he shall think and search, and rouse himself
to strenuous and unremitting exertion in order to regain himself. Worry and anxiety only
serve to heighten the gloom and exaggerate the magnitude of the difficulty. If he will but
quietly take himself to task, and retrace, in thought, the more or less intricate way by
which he has come to his present position, he will soon perceive where he made
mistakes; will discover those places where he took a false turn, and where a little more
thoughtfulness, judgement, economy, or self-denial would have saved him. He will see
how, step by step, he has involved himself, and how a riper judgement and clearer
wisdom would have enabled him to take an altogether different and truer course. Having
proceeded thus far, and extracted from his past conduct this priceless grain of golden
wisdom, his difficulty will already have assumed less impregnable proportions, and he
will then be able to bring to bear upon it the searchlight of dispassionate thought, to
thoroughly anatomize it, to comprehend it in all its details, and to perceive the relation
which those details bear to the motive source of action and conduct within himself. This
being done, the difficulty will have ceased, for the straight way out of it will plainly
appear, and the man will thus have learned, for all time, his lesson; will have gained an
item of wisdom and a measure of blessedness of which he can never again be deprived.

Just as there are ways of ignorance, selfishness, folly, and blindness which end in
confusion and perplexity, so there are ways of knowledge, self-denial, wisdom, and
insight which lead to pleasant and peaceful consummations. He who knows this will
meet difficulties in a courageous spirit, and, in overcoming them, will evolve truth out of
error, bliss out of pain, and peace out of perturbation.

No man can be confronted with a difficulty which he has not the strength to meet and
subdue. Worry is not merely useless, it is folly, for it defeats that power and intelligence
which is otherwise equal to the task. Every difficulty can be overcome if rightly dealt with;
anxiety is, therefore, unnecessary. The task which cannot be overcome ceases to be a
difficulty, and becomes an impossibility; and anxiety is still unnecessary, for there is
only one way of dealing with an impossibility - namely, to submit to it. The inevitable is
the best.

"Heartily know,
When half-gods go,
The gods arrive."

And just as domestic, social, and economic difficulties are born of ignorance and lead to
riper knowledge, so every religious doubt, every mental-perplexity, every heart-
beclouding shadow, presages greater spiritual gain, is prophetic of a brighter dawn of
intelligence for him on whom it falls.

It is a great day in the life of a man (though at the time he knows it not) when bewildering
perplexities concerning the mystery of life take possession of his mind, for it signifies that
his era of dead indifference, of animal sloth, of mere vegetative happiness, has come to
an end, and that henceforth he is to live as an aspiring, self-evolving being. No longer a
mere human animal, he will now begin to live as a man, exerting all his mental energies
to the solution of life's problems, to the answering of those haunting perplexities which
are the sentinels of truth, and which stand at the gate and threshold of the Temple of
Wisdom.

"He it is who, when great trials come,

Nor seeks nor shuns them, but doth calmly stay."

Nor will he ever rest again in selfish ease and listless ignorance; nor sleekly sate himself
upon the swine's husks of fleshly pleasures; nor find a hiding-place from the ceaseless
whisperings of his heart's dark and indefinable interrogatories. The divine within him has
awakened; a sleeping god is shaking off the incoherent visions of the night, never again
to slumber, never again to rest until his eyes rest upon the full, broad day of Truth.

It is impossible for such a man to hush, for any length of time, the call to higher purposes
and achievements which is aroused within him, for the awakened faculties of his being
will ceaselessly urge him on to the unravelling of his perplexities; for him there is no
more peace in sin, no more rest in error, no final refuge but in Wisdom.

Great will be the blessedness of such a man when, conscious of the ignorance of which
his doubts and perplexities are born, and acknowledging and understanding that
ignorance, not striving to hide himself from it, he earnestly applies himself to its removal,
seeks unremittingly, day after day, for that pathway of light which shall enable him to
dispel all the dark shadows, dissolve his doubts, and find the solution to all his pressing
problems. And as a child is glad when it has mastered a lesson long toiled over, just so a
man's heart becomes light and free when he has satisfactorily met some worldly
difficulty; even so, but to a far greater degree, is the heart of a man rendered joyous and
peaceful when some vital and eternal question which has been long brooded over and
grappled with is at last completely answered, and its darkness is for ever dispelled.

Do not regard your difficulties and perplexities as portentous of ill; by so doing you will
make them ill; but regard them as prophetic of good, which, indeed, they are. Do not
persuade yourself that you can evade them; you cannot. Do not try to run away from
them; this is impossible, for wherever you go they will still be there with you - but meet
them calmly and bravely; confront them with all the dispassion and dignity which you can
command; weigh up their proportions; analyse them; grasp their details; measure their
strength; understand them; attack them, and finally vanquish them. Thus will you
develop strength and intelligence; thus will you enter one of those byways of
blessedness which are hidden from the superficial gaze.
 Chapter 4: Burden-Dropping
"This to me is life;
That if life be a burden, I will join
To make it but the burden of a song."

----Bailey

"Have you heard that it was good to gain the day?

I also say it is good to fall, battles are lost in the same
spirit in which they are won."

----Walt Whitman

We hear and read much about burden-bearing, but of the better way of burden-dropping
very little is heard or known. Yet why should you go about with an oppressive weight at
your heart when you might relieve yourself of it and move amongst your fellows heart-
free and cheerful? No man carries a load upon his back except to necessarily transfer
something from one place to another; he does not saddle his shoulders with a perpetual
burden, and then regard himself as a martyr for his pains; and why should you impose
upon your mind a useless burden, and then add to its weight the miseries of self-
condolence and self-pity? Why not abandon both your load and your misery, and thus
add to the gladness of the world by first making yourself glad? No reason can justify, and
no logic support, the ceaseless carrying of a grievous load. As in things material a load is
only undertaken as a necessary means of transference, and is never a source of sorrow,
so in things spiritual a burden should only be taken up as a means towards some good
and necessary end, which, when attained, the burden is put aside; and the carrying of
such a burden, far from being a source of grief would be a cause for rejoicing.

We say that bodily mortifications which some religious ascetics inflict upon themselves
are unnecessary and vain; and are the mental mortifications which so many people inflict
upon themselves less unnecessary and vain?

Where is the burden which should cause unhappiness or sorrow? It does not exist. If a
thing is to be done let it be done cheerfully, and not with inward groanings and
lamentations. It is of the highest wisdom to embrace necessity as a friend and guide. It is
of the greatest folly to scowl upon necessity as an enemy, and to wish or try to overcome
or avoid her. We meet our own at every turn, and duties only become oppressive loads
when we refuse to recognize and embrace them. He who does any necessary thing in a
niggardly and complaining spirit, hunting the while after unnecessary pleasures, lashes
himself with the scorpions of misery and disappointment, and imposes upon himself a
doubly-weighted burden of weariness and unrest under which he incessantly groans.

"Wake thou, O self, to better things;

To yonder heights uplift thy wings;
Take up the psalm of life anew;
Sing of the good, sing of the true;
Sing of full victory o'er wrong;
Make though a richer, sweeter song;
Out of thy doubting, care and pain
Weave thou a joyous, glad refrain;
Out of thy thorns a crown weave thou
Of rare rejoicing. Sing thou, now."

I will give my cheerful, unselfish, and undivided attention to the doing of all those things
which enter into my compact with life, and, though I walk under colossal responsibilities,
I shall be unconscious of any troublesome weight or grievous burden.

You say a certain thing (a duty, a companionship, or a social obligation) troubles you, is
burdensome, and you resign yourself to oppression with the thought: "I have entered into
this, and will go through with it, but it is a heavy and grievous work." But is the thing
really burdensome, or is it your selfishness that is oppressing you? I tell you that that
very thing which you regard as so imprisoning a restriction is the first gateway to your
emanicipation; that work which you regard as a perpetual curse contains for you the
actual blessedness which you vainly persuade yourself lies in another and
unapproachable direction. All things are mirrors in which you see yourself reflected, and
the gloom which you perceive in your work is but a reflection of that mental state which
you bring to it. Bring a right, an unselfish, state of heart to the thing, and lo! it is at once
transformed, and becomes a means of strength and blessedness, reflecting back that
which you have brought to it. If you bring a scowling face to your looking glass will you
complain of the glass that it glowers upon you with a deformed visage, or will you put
your face right, and so get back from the reflector a more pleasing countenance?

If it is right and necessary that a thing should be done then the doing of it is good, and it
can only become burdensome in wishing not to do it. The selfish wish makes the thing
appear evil. If it is neither right nor necesssary that a thing should be done then the
doing of it in order to gain some coveted pleasure is folly, which can only lead to
burdensome issues.

The duty which you shirk is your reproving angel; the pleasure which you race after is
your flattering enemy. Foolish man! when will you turn round and be wise?
It is the beneficence of the universe that it is everywhere, and at all times, urging its
creatures to wisdom as it demands coherence of its atoms. That folly and selfishness
entail suffering in ever-increasing degrees of intensity is preservative and good, for
agony is the enemy of apathy and the herald of wisdom.

What is painful? What is grievous? What is burdensome? Passion is painful; folly is

grievous; selfishness is burdensome.

"It is the dark idolatry of self

Which, when our thoughts and actions once are done,
Demands that man should weep, and bleed, and groan."

Eliminate passion, folly and selfishness from your mind and conduct and you will
eliminate suffering from your life. Burden-dropping consists in abandoning the inward
selfishness and putting pure love in its place. Go to your task with love in your heart and
you will go to it light-hearted and cheerful.

The mind, through ignorance creates its own burdens and inflicts its own punishments.
No one is doomed to carry any load. Sorrow is not arbitrarily imposed. These things are
self-made. Reason is the rightful monarch of the mind, and anarchy reigns in his spiritual
kingdom when his throne is usurped by passion. When love of pleasure is to the fore,
heaviness and anguish compose the rear. You are free to choose. Even if you are bound
by passion, and feel helpless, you have bound yourself, and are not helpless. Where you
have bound you can unbind. You have come to your present state by degrees, and you
can recover yourself by degrees, can reinstate reason and dethrone passion. The time to
avoid evil is before pleasure is embraced, but, once embraced, its train of consequences
should teach you wisdom. The time to decide is before responsibilities are adopted, but,
once adopted, all selfish considerations, with their attendant grumblings, whinings, and
complainings, should be religiously excluded from the heart. Responsibilities lose their
weight when carried lovingly and wisely.

What heavy burden is a man weighted with which is not made heavier and more
unendurable by weak thoughts of selfish desires? If your circumstances are "trying" it is
because you need them and can evolve the strength to meet them. They are trying
because there is some weak spot within you, and they will continue to be trying until that
spot is eradicated. Be glad that you have the opportunity of becoming stronger and
wiser. No circumstances can be trying to wisdom; nothing can weary love. Stop brooding
over your own trying circumstances and contemplate the lives of some of those about
you.

Here is a woman with a large family who has to make ends meet on a pound a week.
She performs all her domestic duties, down to the washing, finds time to attend on sick
neighbours, and manages to keep entirely out of the two common quagmires - debt and
despondency. She is cheerful from morning to night, and never complains of her "trying
circumstances." She is perennially cheerful because she is unselfish. She is happy in the
thought that she is the means of happiness to others. Were she to brood upon the
holidays, the pretty baubles, the lazy hours of which she is deprived; of the plays she
cannot see, the music she cannot hear, the books she cannot read, the parties she
cannot attend, the good she might do, the friendships she is debarred from forming; of
the many pleasures which might only be hers if her circumstances were more favourable
- if she brooded thus what a miserable creature she would be! How unbearably
labourious her work would become! How every little domestic duty would hang like a
millstone about her neck, dragging her down to the grave which, unless she altered her
state of mind, she would quickly reach, killed by - selfishness! But, not living in vain
desires for herself, she is relieved of all burdens, and is happy. Cheerfulness and
unselfishness are sworn friends. Love knows no heavy toil.

Here is another woman, with a private income which is more than sufficient, combined
with leisure and luxury, yet, because she is called upon to forfeit a portion of her time,
pleasure, and money to discharge some obligation which she wishes to be rid of, and
which should be to her a work of loving service, or fostering in her heart some ungratified
desire, she is perpetually discontented and unhappy, and complains of "trying
circumstances". Discontent and Selfishness are inseparable companions. Self-love
knows no joyful labour.

Of the two sets of circumstances above depicted (and life is crowded with such
contrasted instances) which are the "trying" conditions? Is it not true that neither of them
are trying, and that both are blest or unblest in accordance with the measure of love or
selfishness which is infused into them? Is not the root of the whole matter in the mind of
the individual and not in the circumstance?

When a man, who has recently taken up the study of some branch of theology, religion,
or "occultism," says: "If I had not burdened myself with a wife and family I could have
done a great work; and had I known years ago what I know now I would never have
married." I know that that man has not yet found the commonest and broadest way of
wisdom (for there is no greater folly than regret), and that he is incapable of the great
work which he is so ambitious to perform. If a man has such deep love for his fellow-men
that he is anxious to do a great work for humanity he will manifest that surpassing love
always and in the place where he now is. His home will be filled with it, and the beauty
and sweetness and peace of his unselfish love will follow wherever he goes, making
happy those about him and transmuting all things into good. The love that goes abroad
to air itself, and is undiscoverable at home, is not love - it is vanity.
Have I not seen (Oh, pitiful sight!) the cheerless home and neglected children of the
misguided missioner and religionist? It is on such self-delusion as this that self-pity and
self-martyrdom ever wait, and its self-inflicted misery is regarded by the deluded one as
a holy and religious burden which he or she is called upon to bear.

Only a great man can do a great work; and he will be great wherever he is, and will do
his noble work under whatsoever conditions he may find himself when he has unfolded
and revealed that work.

Thou who art so anxious to work for humanity, to help thy fellow-men, begin that work at
home; help thyself, thy neighbour, thy wife, thy child. Do not be deluded; until thou doest,
with utmost faithfulness, the nearer and the lesser thou canst not do the farther and
greater.

If a man has lived many years of his life in lust and selfish pleasure it is in the order of
things that his accumulated errors should at last weigh heavily upon him, as, until they
are thus brought home to him, he will not abandon them, will not exert himself to find a
better life; but whilst he regards his self-made, self-imposed burdens as "holy crosses"
imposed upon him by the Supreme, or as marks of superior virtue, or as loads which
Fate, circumstances, or other people have heaped undeservedly and unjustly upon him,
he is but lengthening out his folly, increasing the weight of his burdens, and multiplying
his pains and sorrows. Only when such a man wakes up to the truth that his burdens are
of his own making, that they are the accumulated effects of his own acts, will he cease
from unmanly self-pity and find the better way of burden-dropping; only when he opens
his eyes to see that his every thought and act is another brick, another stone, built into
the temple of his life will he develop the insight which will enable him to recognise his
own unstable handiwork, the unflinching manliness to acknowledge it, and the courage
to build more nobly and enduringly.

Painful burdens are necessary, but only so long as we lack love and wisdom.

The Temple of Blessedness lies beyond the outer courts of suffering and humiliation and
to reach it the pilgrim must pass through the outer courts. For a time he will linger in the
outer, but only so long as, through his own imperfect understanding, he mistakes it for
the inner. While he pities himself and confounds suffering with holiness he will remain in
suffering: but when, casting off the last unholy rag of self-pity, he perceives that suffering
is a means and not an end, that it is a state self-originated and self-propagated, then,
converted and right-minded, he will rapidly pass through the outer courts, and reach the
inner abode of peace.
Suffering does not originate in the perfect but in the imperfect; it does not mark the
complete but the incomplete; it can, therefore, be transcended. Its self-born cause can
be found, investigated, comprehended, and for ever removed.

It is true therefore, that we must pass through agony to rest, through loneliness to peace;
but let the sufferer not forget that it is a "passing through;" that the agony is a gateway
and not a habitation; that the loneliness is a pathway and not a destination; and that a
little farther on he will come to the painless and blissful repose.

Little by little is a burden accumulated; imperceptibly and by degrees is its weight

increased. A thoughtless impulse, a gross self-indulgence, a blind passion yielded to and
gratified again and again; an impure thought fostered, a cruel word uttered, a foolish
thing done time after time, and at last the gathered weight of many follies becomes
oppressive. At first, and for a time, the weight is not felt; but it is being added to day after
day, and the time comes when the accumulated burden is felt in all its galling weight,
when the bitter fruits of selfishness are gathered, and the heart is troubled with the
weariness of life. When this period arrives let the sufferer look to himself; let him search
for the blessed way of burden-dropping, finding which he will find wisdom to live better,
purity to live sweeter, love to live nobler; will find, in the reversal of that conduct by which
his burdens were accumulated, light-hearted nights and days, cheerful action, and
unclouded joy.

"Come out of the world - come above it -

Up over its crosses and graves;
Though the green earth is fair and I love it,
We must love it as masters, not slaves,
Come up where the dust never rises -
But only the perfume of flowers -
And your life shall be glad with surprises
Of beautiful hours."
 Chapter 5: Hidden Sacrifices
"What need hath man
Of Eden passed, or Paradise to come,
When heaven is round us and within ourselves?"
***************
"Lowliness is the base of every virtue:
Who goes the lowest, builds, doubt not, the safest."

----Bailey.

"Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise

From outward things, whate'er you may believe."

----Browning

It is one of the paradoxes of Truth that we gain by giving up; we lose by greedily
grasping. Every gain in virtue necessitates some loss in vice; every accession of
holiness means some selfish pleasure yielded up; and every forward step on the path of
Truth demands the forfeit of some self-assertive error.

He who would be clothed in new garments must first cast away the old, and he who
would find the True must sacrifice the false. The gardener digs in the weeds in order that
they may feed, with their decay, the plants which are good for food; and the Tree of
Wisdom can only flourish on the compost of uprooted follies. Growth - gain -
necessitates sacrifice - loss.

The true life, the blessed life, the life that is not tormented with passions and pains, is
reached only through sacrifice, not necessarily the sacrifice of outward things, but the
sacrifice of the inward errors and defilements, for it is these, and these only, which bring
misery into life. It is not the good and true that needs to be sacrificed but the evil and
false; therefore all sacrifice is ultimately gain, and there is no essential loss. Yet at first
the loss seems great, and the sacrifice is painful, but this is because of the self-delusion
and spiritual blindness which always accompany selfishness, and pain must always
accompany the cutting away of some selfish portion of one's nature. When the drunkard
resolves to sacrifice his lust for strong drink he passes through a period of great
suffering, and he feels that he is forfeiting a great pleasure; but when his victory is
complete, when the lust is dead, and his mind is calm and sober, then he knows that he
has gained incalculably by the giving up of his selfish animal pleasure. What he has lost
was evil and false and not worth keeping - nay, its keeping enatiled continual misery -
but what he has gained in character, in self-control, in soberness had greater peace of
mind, is good and true, and it was necessary that he should acquire it.

So it is with all true sacrifice; it is at first, and until it is completed, painful, and this is why
men shrink from it. They cannot see any purpose in abstaining from and overcoming
selfish gratification, it seems to them like losing so much that is sweet; seems to them
like courting misery, and giving up all happiness and pleasure. And this must be so; for if
a man could know that by giving up his particular forms of selfishness his gain in
happiness would be immeasurably greater, unselfishness (which is now so difficult of
attainment) would then be rendered infinitely more difficult of achievement, for his desire
for the greater gain - his selfishness - would thereby be greatly intensified.

No man can become unselfish, and thereby arrive at the highest bliss, until he is willing
to lose, looking for neither gain nor reward: it is this state of mind which constitutes
unselfishness. A man must be willing to humbly sacrifice his selfish habits and practices
because they are untrue and unworthy, and for the happiness of those about him,
without expecting any reward or looking for any good to accrue to himself; nay, he must
be prepared to lose for himself, to forfeit pleasure and happiness, even life itself, if by so
doing he can make the world more beautiful and happy. But does he lose? Does the
miser lose when he gives up his lust for gold? Does the thief lose when he abandons
stealing? Does the libertine lose when he sacrifices his unworthy pleasures? No man
loses by the sacrifice of self, or some portion of self; nevertheless, he thinks he will lose
by so doing, and because he so thinks he suffers and this is where the sacrifice comes
in - this is where he gains by losing.

All true sacrifice is within; it is spiritual and hidden, and is prompted by deep humility of
heart. Nothing but the sacrifice of self can avail, and to this must all men come sooner or
later during their spiritual evolution. But in what does this self-abnegation consist? How
is it practised? Where is it sought and found? It consists in overcoming the daily
proneness to selfish thoughts and acts; it is practised in our common intercourse with
others; and it is found in the hour of tumult and temptation.

There are hidden sacrifices of the heart which are infinitely blessed both to him that
makes them and those for whom they are made, albeit their making costs much effort
and some pain. Men are anxious to do some great thing, to perform some great sacrifice
which lies beyond the necessities of their experience, while all the time, perhaps, they
are neglecting the one thing needful, are blind to that sacrifice which by its very nearness
is rendered imperative. Where lurks your besetting sin? Where lies your weakness?
Where does temptation assail you most strongly? There shall you make your first
scarifice, and shall find thereby the way unto your peace. Perhaps it is anger or
unkindness. Are you prepared to sacrifice the angry impulse and word, the unkind
thought and deed? Are you prepared to silently endure abuse, attack, accusation, and
unkindness, refusing to pay back these in their own coin? Nay, more, are you prepared
to give in return for these dark follies kindness and loving protection? If so, then you are
ready to make those hidden scarifices which lead to beatific bliss.

If you are given to anger or unkindness offer it up. These hard, cruel, and wrong
conditions of mind never brought you any good; they can never bring you anything but
unrest, misery, and spiritual blindness. Nor can they ever bring to others anything but
unhappiness. Perhaps you will say: "But he was unkind to me first; he treated me
unjustly." Perhaps so, but what a poor excuse is this! What an unmanly and ineffectual
refuge! For if his unkindness toward you is so wrong and hurtful yours to him must be
equally so. Because another is unkind to you is no justification of your own unkindness,
but is rather a call for the exercise of great kindness on your part. Can the pouring in of
more water prevent a flood? Neither can unkindness lessen unkindness. Can fire quench
fire? Neither can anger overcome anger.

Offer up all unkindness, all anger. "It takes two to make a quarrel;" don't be the "other
one." If one is angry or unkind to you try to find out where you have acted wrongly; and,
whether you have acted wrongly or not, do nto throw back the angry word or unkind act.
Remain silent, self-contained, and kindly disposed; and learn, by continual effort in right-
doing, to have compassion upon the wrong-doer.

Perhaps you are habitually impatient and irritable. Know, then, the hidden sacrifice which
it is needful that you should make. Give up your impatience. Overcome it there where it
is wont to assert itself. Resolve that you will yield no longer to its tyrannical sway but will
conquer it and cast it out. It is not worth keeping a single hour, nor would it dominate you
for another moment if you were not labouring under the delusion that the follies and
perversities of others render impatience on your part necessary. Whatever others may
do or say, even though they may mock and taunt you, impatience is not only
unnecessary, it can never do any other than aggravate the evil which it seeks to remove.
Calm, strong, and deliberate action can accomplish much, but impatience and its
accompanying irritability are always indiactions of weakness and inefficiency. And what
do they bestow upon you? Do they bestow rest, peace, happiness, or bring these to
those about you? Do they not, rather, make you and those about you wretched? But
though your impatience may hurt others it certainly hurts and wounds and impoverishes
yourself most of all.

Nor can the impatient man know aught of true blessedness, for he is a continual source
of trouble and unrest to himself. The calm beauty and perpetual sweetness of patience
are unknown to him, and peace cannot draw near to soothe and comfort him.

There is no blessedness anywhere until impatience is sacrificed; and its sacrifice means
the development of endurance, the practice of forbearance, and the creation of a new
and gentler habit of mind. When impatience and irritability are entirely put away, are
finally offered up on the altar of unselfishness, then is realised and enjoyed the
blessedness of a strong, quiet, and peaceful mind.

"Each hour we think

Of others more than self, that hour we live again,
And every lowly sacrifice we make
For other's good shall make life more than self,
And ope the windows of thy soul to light
From higher spheres. So hail thy lot with lot with joy."

Then there are little selfish indulgences, some of which appear harmless, and are
commonly fostered; but no selfish indulgence can be harmless, and men and women do
not know what they lose by repeatedly and habitually succumbing to effeminate and
selfish gratifications. If the God in man is to rise strong and triumphant, the beast in man
must perish. The pandering to the animal nature, even when it appears innocent and
seems sweet, leads away from truth and blessedness. Each time you give way to the
animal within you, and feed and gratify him, he waxes stronger and more rebellious, and
takes firmer possession of your mind, which should be in the keeping of Truth. Not until a
man has sacrifice some apparently trivial indulgence does he discover what strength,
what joy, what poise of character and holy influence he has all along been losing by that
gratification; not until a man sacrifices his hankering for pleasure does he enter into the
fulness of abiding joy.

By his personal indulgences a man demeans himself, forfeits self-respect to the extent
and frequency of his indulgence, and deprives himself of exemplary influence and the
power to accomplish lasting good in his work in the world. He also, by allowing himself to
be led by blind desire, increases his mental blindness, and fails of that ultimate clearness
of vision, that clarified percipience which pierces to the heart of things and comprehends
the real and the true. Animal indulgence is alien to the perception of Truth. By the
sacrifice of his indulgences man rises above confusion and doubt, and arrives at the
possession of insight and surety.

Sacrifice your cherished and coveted indulgence; fix your mind on something higher,
nobler, and more enduring than ephemeral pleasure; live superior to the craving for
sense-excitement, and you will live neither vainly nor uncertainly.

Very far-reaching in its effect upon others, and rich with the revelations of Truth for him
who makes it, is the sacrifice of self-assertion - the giving up of all interference with the
lives, views, or religion of other people, substituting for it an understanding love and
sympathy. Self-assertion or opinionativeness is a form of egotism or selfishness most
generally found in connection with intellectualism and dialectical skill. It is blindly
presumptive and uncharitable, and, more often than not, is regarded as a virtue; but
when once the mind has opened to perceive the way of gentleness and self-sacrificing
love then the ignorance, deformity, and painful nature of self-assertion become apparent.

The victim of self-assertion, setting up his own opinions as the standard of right and the
measure of judgment, regards all those as wrong whose lives and opinions run counter
to his own, and, being eager to put others right, is thereby prevented from putting himself
right. His attitude of mind brings about him opposition and contradiction from people who
are anxious to put him right, and this wounds his vanity and makes him miserable, so
that he lives in an almost continual fever of unhappy, resentful and uncharitable
thoughts. There can be no peace for such a man, no true knowledge, and no
advancement until he sacrifices his desire to bend others to his own way of thinking and
acting. Nor can he understand the hearts of others, and enter lovingly into their strivings
and aspirations. His mind is cramped and embittered, and he is shut out from all sweet
sympathy and spiritual communion.

He who sacrifices the spirit of self-assertion, who in his daily contact with others put
aside his prejudices and opinions, and strives both to learn from others and to
understand them as they are, who allows to others perfect liberty (such as he exercises
himself) to choose their own opinions, their own way in life - such a man will acquire a
deeper insight, a broader charity, and a richer bliss than he has hitherto experienced,
and will strike a byway of blessedness from which he has formerly shut out.

Then there is the sacrifice of greed and all greedy thoughts. The willingness that others
should possess rather than we; the not-coveting of things for ourselves but rejoicing that
they are possessed and enjoyed by others, that they bring happiness to others; the
ceasing to claim one's "own", and the giving up to others, unselfishly and without malice,
that which they exact. This attitude of mind is a source of deep peace and great spiritual
strength. It is the sacrifice of self-interest.

Material possessions are temporary, and in this sense we cannot truly call them our own
- they are merely in our keeping for a short time - but spiritual possessions are eternal
and must ever remain with us. Unselfishness is a spiritual possession which is only
secured by ceasing to covet material possessions and enjoyments, by ceasing to regard
things as for our own special and exclusive pleasure, and by our readiness to yield them
up for the good of others.

The unselfish man, even though he finds himself involved in riches, stands aloof, in his
mind, from the idea of "exclusive possession", and so escapes the bitterness and fear
and anxiety which ever accompany the covetous spirit. He does not regard any of his
outward accretions as being too valuable to lose, but he regards the virtue of
unselfishness as being too valuable to the world - to suffering humanity - to lose or cast
away.

And who is the blessed man? He who is ever hankering after more possessions, thinking
only of the personal pleasure he can get out of them? or he who is ever ready to give up
what he has for the good and happiness of others? By greed happiness is destroyed; by
not-greed happiness is restored.

Another hidden sacrifice, one of great spiritual beauty and of powerful efficacy in the
healing of human sorrows, is the sacrifice of hatred - the giving up of all bitter thoughts
against others, of all malice, dislike, and resentment. Bitter thoughts and blessedness
cannot dwell together. Hatred is a fierce fire that scorches up, in the heart of him who
harbours it, all the sweet flowers of peace and happiness, and makes a hell of every
place where it comes.

Hatred has many names and many forms but only one essence - namely, burning
thoughts of resentment against others. It is sometimes, by its blind votaries called by the
name of religion, causing them to attack, slander, and persecute each other because
they will not accept each other's views of life and death, thus filling the earth with
miseries and tears.

All resentment, dislike, ill-thinking, and ill-speaking of others is hatred, and where there is
hatred there is always unhappiness. No one has conquered hatred while thoughts of
resentment towards others spring up in his mind. This sacrifice is not complete until a
man can think kindly of those who try to do him wrong. Yet it must be made before true
blessedness can be realised and known. Beyond the hard, cruel, steely gates of hatred
waits the divine angel of love, ready to reveal herself to him who will subdue and
sacrifice his hateful thoughts, and conduct him to his peace.

Whatever others may say of you, whatever they may do to you, never take offence. Do
not return hatred with hatred. If another hates you perhaps you have, consciously or
unconsciously, failed somewhere in your conduct, or there may be some
misunderstanding which the exercise of a little gentleness and reason may remove; but,
under all circumstances, "Father, forgive them" is infinitely better, sweeter, and nobler
than "I will hve nothing more to do with them." Hatred is so small and poor, so blind and
wretched. Love is so great and rich, so far-seeing and blissful.

"The highest culture is to speak no ill:

The best reformer is the man whose eyes
Are quick to see all beauty and all worth;
And by his own discreet, well-ordered life
Alone reproves the erring."
Sacrifice all hatred, slay it upon the holy altar of of devotion - devotion to others. Think
no more of any injury to your own petty self, but see to it that henceforth you injure and
wound no other. Open the flood gates of your heart for the inpouring of that sweet, great,
beautiful love which embraces all with strong yet tender thoughts of protection and
peace, leaving not one, nay, not even he who hates or despises or slanders you, out in
the cold.

Then there is the hidden sacrifice of impure desires, of weak self-pity and degrading self-
praise, of vanity and pride, for these are unblest attitudes of mind, deformities of heart.
He who makes them, one by one, gradually subduing and overcoming them, will,
according to the measure of his success, rise above weakness and suffering and sorrow,
and will comprehend and enjoy the perfect and imperishable blessedness.

Now, all these hidden sacrifices which are here mentioned are pure, humble heart-
offerings. They are made within; are offered up on the sacred, lonely, unseen altar of
one's own heart. Not one of them can be made until the fault is first silently
acknowledged and confessed. No man can sacrifice an error until he first of all confess
(to himself) "Iam in error;" when, yielding it up, he will perceive and receive the truth
which his error formerly obscured.

"The kingdom of heaven cometh not by observation," and the silent sacrifice of self for
the good of others, the daily giving up of one's egotistic tendencies, is not seen and
rewarded of men, and brings no loud blazon of popularity and praise. It is hidden away
from the eyes of all the world, nay, even from the gaze of those who are nearest to you,
for no eyes of flesh can perceive its spiritual beauty. But think not that because it is
unperceived it is therefore futile. Its blissful radiance is enjoyed by you, and its power for
good over others is great and far-reaching, for though they cannot see it, nor, perhaps
understand it, yet they are unconsciously influenced by it. They will not know what silent
battles you are fighting, what eternal victories over self you are achieving, but, they will
feel your altered attitude, your new mind, wrought of the fabric of love and loving
thoughts, and will share somewhat in its happiness and bliss. They will know nothing of
the frequent fierceness of the fight you are waging, of the wounds you receive and the
healing balm you apply, of the anguish and the after-peace; but they will know that you
have grown sweeter and gentler, stronger and more silently self-reliant, more patient and
pure, and that they are rested and helped by your presence. What rewards can compare
with this? Beside the fragrant offices of love the praises of men are gross and fulsome,
and in the pure flame of a selfless heart the flatteries of the world are turned to ashes.
Love is its own reward, its own joy, its own satisfaction; it is the final refuge and resting-
place of passion-tortured souls.

The sacrifice of self, and the acquisition of the supreme knowledge and bliss which it
confers, is not accomplished by one great and glorious act but by a series of lesser and
successive sacrifices in the ordinary life of the world, by a succession of steps in the
daily conquest of Truth over selfishness. He who each day accomplishes some victory
over himself, who subdues and puts behind him some unkind thought, some impure
desire, some tendency to sin, is everyday growing stronger, purer, and wiser, and every
dawn finds him nearer to that final glory of Truth which each self-sacrificing act reveals in
part.

Look not outside thee nor beyond thee for the light and blessedness of Truth, but look
within; thou wilt find it within the narrow sphere of thy duty, even in the humble and
hidden sacrifices of thine own heart.
 Chapter 6: Sympathy
"When thy gaze
Turns it on thine own soul, be most severe:
But when it falls upon a fellow-man
Let kindliness control it; and refrain
From that belittling censure that springs forth
From common lips like weeds from marshy soil."

----Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

"I do not ask the wounded person how he feels,

I myself become the wounded person."

-------Walt Whitman.

We can only sympathise with others in so far as we have conquered ourselves. We

cannot think and feel for others while we are engaged in condoling with and pitying
ourselves; cannot deal tenderly and lovingly with others while we are anxious for our
own pre-eminence or for the exclusive preservation of ourselves, our opinions, and our
own generally. What is sympathy but thoughtfulness for others in the forgetfulness of
self?

To sympathise with others we must first understand them, and to understand them we
must put away all personal preconceptions concerning them, and must see them as they
are. We must enter into their inner state and become one with them, looking through
their mental eyes and comprehending the range of their experience. You cannot, of
course, do this with a being whose wisdom and experience are greater than your own;
nor can you do it with any if you regard yourself as being on a higher plane than others
(for egotism and sympathy cannot dwell together), but you can practise it with all those
who are involved in sins and sufferings from which you have successfully extricated
yourself, and, though your sympathy cannot embrace and overshadow the man whose
greatness is beyond you, yet you can place yourself in such an attitude towards him as
to receive the protection of his larger sympathy and so make for yourself an easier way
out of the sins and sufferings by which you are still enchained.

Prejudice and ill-will are complete barriers to the giving of sympathy, while pride and
vanity are total barriers to its reception. You cannot sympathise with a person for whom
you have conceived a hatred; you cannot enjoy the sympathy of one whom you envy.
You cannot understand the person whom you dislike, or he for whom, through animal
impulse, you have framed an ill-formed affection. You do not, cannot, see him as he is,
but see only your own imperfect notions of him; see only a distorted image of him
through the exaggerating medium of your ill-grounded opinions.

To see others as they are you must not allow impulsive likes and dislikes, powerful
prejudices, or egotistic considerations to come between you and them. You must not
resent their actions or condemn their beliefs and opinions. You must leave yourself
entirely out, and must, for the time being, assume their position. Only in this way can you
become en rapport with them, and so fathom their life, their experience, and understand
it, and when a man is understood it becomes impossible to condemn him. Men misjudge,
condemn, and avoid each other because they do not understand each other, and they
do not understand each other because they have not overcome and purified themselves.

Life is growth, development, evolution, and there is no essential distinction between the
sinner and the saint - there is only a difference in degree. The saint was once a sinner;
the sinner will one day be a saint. The sinner is the child; the saint is the grown man. He
who separates himself from sinners, regarding them as wicked men to be avoided, is like
a man avoiding contact with little children because they are unwise, disobedient, and
play with toys.

All life is one, but it has a variety of manifestations. The grown flower is not something
distinct from the tree: it is a part of it; is only another form of leaf. Steam is not something
apart from water: it is but another form of water. And in like manner good is transmuted
evil: the saint is the sinner developed and transformed.

The sinner is one whose understanding is undeveloped, and he ignorantly chooses

wrong modes of action. The saint is one whose understanding is ripened, and he wisely
chooses right modes of action. The sinner condemns the sinner, condemnation being a
wrong mode of action. The saint never condemns the sinner, remembering that he
himself formerly occupied the same place, but thinks of him with deep sympathy,
regarding him in the light of a younger brother or a friend, for sympathy is a right and
enlightened mode of action.

The perfected saint, who gives synpathy to all, needs it of none, for he has transcended
sin and suffering, and lives in the enjoyment of lasting bliss; but all who suffer need
sympathy, and all who sin must suffer. When a man comes to understand that every sin,
whether of thought or deed, receives its just quota of suffering he ceases to condemn
and begins to sympathise, seeing the sufferings which sin entails; and he comes to such
understanding by purifying himself.

As a man purges himself of passions, as he transmutes his selfish desires and puts
under foot his egotistic tendencies, he sounds the depths of all human experiences - all
sins and sufferings and sorrows, all motives and thoughts and deeds - and comprehends
the moral law in its perfection. Complete self-conquest is perfect knowledge, perfect
sympathy, and he who views men with the stainless vision of a pure heart views them
with a pitying heart, sees them as a part of himself, not as something defiled and
separate and distinct, but as his very self, sinning as he has sinned, suffering as he has
suffered, sorrowing as he has sorrowed, yet, withal, glad in the knowledge that they will
come, as he has come, to perfect peace at last.

The truly good and wise man cannot be a passionate partisan, but extends his sympathy
to all, seeing no evil in others to be condemned and resisted, but seeing the sin which is
pleasant to the sinner, and the after-sorrow and pain which the sinner does not see, and,
when it overtakes him, does not understand.

A man's sympathy extends just so far as his wisdom reaches, and no further; and a man
only grows wiser as he grows tenderer and more compassionate. To narrow one's
sympathy is to narrow one's heart, and so to darken and embitter one's life. To extend
and broaden one's sympathy is to enlighten and gladden one's life and to make plainer
to others the way of light and gladness.

To sympathise with another is to receive his being into our own, to become one with him,
for unselfish love indissolubly unites, and he whose sympathy reaches out to and
embraces all humankind and all living creatures has realised his identity and oneness
with all, and comprehends the universal Love and Law and Wisdom.

Man is shut out from Heaven and Peace and Truth only in so far as he shuts out others
from his sympathy. Where his sympathy ends his darkness and torment and turmolis
begin, for to shut others out from our love is to shut ourselves out from the blessedness
of love, and to become cramped in the dark prison of self.
"Whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his
own funeral dressed in a shroud."

Only when one's sympathy is unlimited is the Eternal Light of Truth revealed; only in the
Love that knows no restriction is the boundness bliss enjoyed.

Sympathy is bliss; in it is revealed the highest, purest blessedness. It is divine, for in its
reciprocal light all thought of self is lost, and there remains only the pure joy of oneness
with others, the ineffable communion of spiritual identity. Where a man ceases to
sympathise he ceases to live, ceases to see and realise and know.

One cannot truly sympathise with others until all selfish considerations concerning them
are put away, and he who does this and strives to see others as they are, strives to
realise their particular sins, temptations, and sorrows, their beliefs, opinions, and
prejudices, comes at last to see exactly where they stand in their spiritual evolution,
comprehends the arc of their experience, and knows that they cannot for the present act
otherwise than they do. He sees that their thoughts and acts are prompted by the extent
of their knowledge, or their lack of knowledge, and that if they act blindly and foolishly it
is because their knowledge and experience are immature, and they can only come to act
more wisely by gradual growth into more enlightened states of mind. He also sees that
though this growth can be encouraged, helped, and stimulated by the influence of a riper
example, by seasonable words and well-timed instruction, it cannot be unnaturally
forced; the flowers of love and wisdom must have time to grow, and the barren branches
of hatred and folly cannot be all cut away at once.

Such a man finds the doorway into the inner world of those with whom he comes in
contact, and he opens it and enters in and dwells with them in the hidden and sacred
sanctuary of their being. And he finds nothing to hate, nothing to revile, nothing to
condemn in that sacred place, but something to love and tend, and, in his own heart,
room only for greater pity, greater patience, greater love.

He sees that he is one with them, that they are but another aspect of himself, that their
natures are not different from his own, except in modification and degree, but are
identical with it. If they are acting out certain sinful tendencies he has but to look within to
find the same tendencies in himself, albeit, perhaps, restrained or purified; if they are
manifesting certain holy and divine qualities he finds the same pure spirit within himself,
though, perhaps, in a lesser degree of power and development.

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

The sin of one is the sin of all; the virtue of one is the virtue of all. No man can be
separate from another. There is no difference of nature but only difference of condition. If
a man thinks he is separated from another by virtue of his superior holiness he is not so
separated, and his darkness and delusion are very great. Humanity is one, and in the
holy sanctuary of sympathy saint and sinner meet and unite.

It is said of Jesus that He took upom Himself the sins of the whole world - that is, He
identified Himself with those sins, and did not regard Himself as essentially separate
from sinners but as being of a like nature with them - and his realisation of His oneness
with all men was manifested in His life as profound sympathy with those who, for their
deep sins, were avoided and cast off by others.

And who is it that is in the greatest need of sympathy? Not the saint, not the enlightened
seer, not the perfect man. It is the sinner, the unenlightened man, the imperfect one; and
the greater the sin the greater is the need. "I came not to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance" is the statement of One who comprehended all human needs. The righteous
man does not need your sympathy, but the unrighteous; he who, by his wrong-doing, is
laying up for himself long periods of suffering and woe is in need of it.

The flagrantly unrighteous man is condemned, despised, and avoided by those who are
living in a similar condition to himself, though for the time being, they may not be subject
to his particular form of sin, for that withholding of sympathy and that mutual
condemnation which are so rife is the commonest manifestation of that lack of
understanding in which all sin takes its rise. While a man is involved in sin he will
condemn others who are likewise involved, and the deeper and greater his sin the more
severe will be his condemnation of others. It is only when a man begins to sorrow for his
sin, and so to rise above it into the clearer light of purity and understanding, that he
ceases from condemning others and learns to sympathise with them. But this ceaseless
condemnation of each other by those who are involved in the fierce play of the passions
must needs, be, for it one of the modes of operation of the Great Law which universally
and eternally obtains, and the unrighteous one who falls under the condemnation of his
fellows will the more rapidly reach a higher and nobler condition of heart and life if he
humbly accepts the censure of others as the effect of his own sin, and resolves
henceforward to refrain from all condemnation of others.

The truly good and wise man condemns none, having put away all blind passion and
selfishness he lives in the calm regions of love and peace, and understands all modes of
sin, with their consequent sufferings and sorrows. Enlightened and awakened, freed
from all selfish bias, and seeing men as they are, his heart responds in holy sympathy
with all. Should any condemn, abuse, or slander him he throws aroundthem the kindly
protection of his sympathy, seeing the ignorance which prompts them so to act, and
knowing that they alone will suffer for their wrong acts.

Learn, by self-conquest and the acquisition of wisdom, to love him whom you now
condemn, to sympathise with those who condemn you. Turn your eyes away from their
condemnation and search your own heart, to find, perchance, some hard, unkind, or
wrong thoughts which, when discovered and understood, you will condemn yourself.

Much that is commonly called sympathy is personal affection. To love them who love us
is human bias and inclination; but to love them who do not love us is divine sympathy.

Sympathy is needed because of the prevalence of suffering, for there is no being or

creature who has not suffered. Through suffering sympathy is evolved. Not in a year or a
life or an age is the human heart purified and softened by suffering, but after many lives
of intermittent pain, after many ages of ever recurring sorrow, man reaps the golden
harvest of his experiences, and garners in the rich, ripe sheaves of love and wisdom.
And then he understands, and understanding, he sympathises.
All suffering is the result of ignorantly violated law, and after many repetitions of the
same wrong act, and the same kind of suffering resulting from that act, knowledge of the
law is acquired, and the higher state of obedience and wisdom is reached. Then there
blossoms the pure and perfect flower of sympathy.

One aspect of sympathy is that of pity - pity for the distressed or pain-stricken, with a
desire to alleviate or help them bear their sufferings. The world needs more of this divine
quality. "For pity makes the world
Soft to the weak, and noble for the strong."

But it can only be developed by eradicating all hardness and unkindness, all accusation
and resentment. He who, when he sees another suffering for his sin, hardens his heart
and thinks or says: "It serves him right"- such a one cannot exercise pity nor apply its
healing balm. Every time a man acts cruelly towards another (be it only a dumb
creature), or refuses to bestow needed sympathy, he dwarfs himself, deprives himself of
ineffable blessedness, and prepares himsrelf for suffering.

Another form of sympathy is that of rejoicing with those who are more successful than
ourselves, as though their success were our own. Blessed indeed is he who is free from
all envy and malice, and can rejoice and be glad when he hears of the good fortune of
those who regard him as an enemy.

The protecting of creatures weaker and more indefensible than oneself is another form in
which this divine sympathy is manifested. The helpless frailty of the dumb creation calls
for the exercise of the deepest sympathy. The glory of superior strength resides in its
power to shield, not to destroy. Not by the callous of destruction of weaker things is life
truly lived, but by their preservation: "All life
Is linked and kin,"
and the lowest creature is not separated from the highest but by greater weakness, by
lesser intelligence. When we pity and protect we reveal and enlarge the divine life and
joy within ourselves. When we thoughtlessly or callously inflict suffering or destroy, then
our divine life becomes obscured, and its joy fades and dies. Bodies may feed bodies,
and passions passions, but man's divine nature is only nurtured, sustained, and
developed by kindness, love, sympathy, and all pure and unselfish acts.

By bestowing sympathy on others we increase our own. Sympathy given can never be
wasted. Even the meanest creature will respond to its heavenly touch, for it is the
universal language which all creatures understand. I have recently heard a true story of
a Dartmoor convict whose terms of incarceration in various convict stations extended to
over forty years. As a criminal he was considered one of the most callous and hopelessly
abandoned, and the warders found him almost intractable. But one day he caught a
mouse - a weak, terrified, hunted thing like himself - and its helpless frality, and the
similarity of its condition with his own, appealed to him, and started into flame the divine
spark of sympathy which smouldered in his crime-hardened heart, and which no human
touch had ever wakened into life.

He kept the mouse in an old boot in his cell, fed, tended, and loved it, and in his love for
the weak and helpless he forgot and lost his hatred for the strong. His heart and his hand
were no longer against his fellows. He became tractable and obedient to the uttermost.
The warders could not understand his change; it seemed to them little short of
miraculous that this most hardened of all criminals should suddenly be transformed into
the likeness of a gentle, obedient child. Even the expression of his featires altered
remarkably: a pleasing smile began to play around the mouth which had formerly been
moved to nothing better than a cruel grin, and the implacable hardness of his eyes
disappeared and gave place to a soft, deep, mellow light. The criminal was a criminal no
longer; he was saved, converted; clothed, and in his right mind; restored to humaneness
and to humanity, and set firmly on the pathway to divinity by pitying and caring for a
defenceless creature. All this was made known to the warders shortly afterwards, when,
on his discharge, he took the mouse away with him.

Thus sympathy bestowed increases its store in our own hearts, and enriches and
fructifies our own life. Sympathy given is blessedness received; sympathy withheld is
blessedness forfeited. In the measure that a man increases and enlarges his sympathy
so much nearer does he approach the ideal life, the perfect blessedness; and when his
heart has become so mellowed that no hard, bitter, or cruel thought can enter and
detract from its permanent sweetness, then indeed is he richly and divinely blessed.
 Chapter 7: Forgiveness
"If men only understood
All the emptiness and acting
Of the sleeping and the waking
Of the souls they judge so blindly,
Of the hearts they pierce so unkindly,
They, with gentler words and feeling,
Would apply the balm of healing-
If they only understood."
"Kindness, nobler ever than revenge."

------Shakespeare.

The remembering of injuries is spiritual darkness; the fostering of resentment is spiritual

suicide. To resort to the spirit and practice of forgiveness is the beginning of
enlightenment; it is also the beginning of peace and happiness. There is no rest for him
who broods over slights and injuries and wrongs; no quiet repose of mind for him who
feels that he has been unjustly treated, and who schemes how best to act for the
discomfiture of his enemy.

How can happiness dwell in a heart that is so disturbed by ill-will? Do birds resort to a
burning bush wherein to build and sing? Neither can happiness inhabit in that breast that
is aflame with burning thoughts of resentment. Nor can wisdom come and dwell where
such folly resides.

Revenge seems sweet only to the mind that is unacquainted with the spirit of
forgiveness; but when the sweetness of forgiveness is tasted then the extreme bitterness
of revenge is known. Revenge seems to lead to happiness to those who are involved in
the darkness of passion; but when the violence of passion is abandoned, and the
mildness of forgiveness is restored to, then it is seen that revenge leads to suffering.

Revenge is a virus which eats into the very vitals of the mind, and poisons the entire
spiritual being. Resentment is a mental fever which burns up the wholesome energies of
the mind, and "taking offence" is a form of moral sickness which saps the healthy flow of
kindliness and good-will, and from which men and women should seek to be delivered.
The unforgiving and resentful spirit is a source of great suffering and sorrow, and he who
harbours and encourages it, who does not overcome and abandon it, forfeits much
blessedness, and does not obtain any measure of true enlightenment. To be hard-
hearted is to suffer, is to be deprived of light and comfort; to be tender-hearted is to be
serenely glad, is to receive light and be well comforted. It will seem strange to many to
be told that the hard-hearted and unforgiving suffer most; yet it is profoundly true, for not
only do they, by the law of attraction, draw to themselves the revengeful passions in
other people, but their hardness of heart itself is a continual source of suffering. Every
time a man hardens his heart against a fellow-being he inflicts upon himself five kinds of
suffering - namely, the suffering of loss of love; the suffering of lost communion and
fellowship; the suffering of a troubled and confused mind; the suffering of wounded
passion or pride; and the suffering of punishment inflicted by others. Every act of
unforgiveness entails upon the doer of that act these five sufferings; whereas every act
of forgiveness brings to the doer five kinds of blessedness - the blessedness of love; the
blessedness of increased communion and fellowship; the blessedness of a calm and
peaceful mind; the blessedness of passion stilled and pride overcome; and the
blessedness and kindness and good-will bestowed by others.

Numbers of people are today suffering the fiery torments of an unforgiving spirit, and
only when they make an effort to overcome that spirit can they know what a cruel and
exacting taskmaster they are serving. Only those who have abandoned the service of
such a master for that of the nobler master of forgiveness can realise and know how
grievous a service is the one, how sweet the other.

Let a man contemplate the strife of the world: how individuals and communities,
neighbours and nations, live in continual retaliations towards each other; let him realise
the heartaches, the bitter tears, the grievous partings and misunderstandings - yea, even
the blood-shed and woe which spring from that strife - and, thus realising, he will never
again yield to ignoble thoughts of resentment, never again take offence at the actions of
others, never again live in unforgiveness towards any being.

"Have good-will
To all that lives, letting unkindness die
And greed and wrath; so that your lives be made
Like soft airs passing by."

When a man abandons retaliation for forgiveness he passes from darkness to light. So
dark and ignorant is unforgiveness that no being who is at all wise or enlightened could
descend to it; but its darkness is not understood and known until it is left behind, and the
better and nobler course of conduct is sought and practised. Man is blinded and deluded
only by his own dark and sinful tendencies; and the giving up of all unforgiveness means
the giving up of pride and certain forms of passion, the abandonment of the deeply-
rooted idea of the importance of one-self and of the necessity for protecting and
defending that self; and when that is done the higher life, greater wisdom, and pure
enlightenment, which pride and passion completely obscured, are revealed in all their
light and beauty.
Then there are petty offences, little spites and passing slights, which, while of a less
serious nature than deep-seated hatreds and revenges, dwarf the character and cramp
the soul. They are due to the sin of self and self-importance and thrive on vanity.
Whosoever is blinded and deluded by vanity will continually see something in the actions
and the attitudes of others towards him at which to take offence, and the more there is of
vanity the more greatly will the imaginary slight or wrong be exagerrated. Moreover, to
live in the frequent indulgence of petty resentments increase the spirit of hatred, and
leads gradually downward to greater darkness, suffering, and self-delusion. Don't take
offence or allow your feelings to be hurt, which means - get rid of pride and vanity. Don't
give occasion for offence or hurt the feelings of others, which means - be gently
considerate, forgiving, and charitable towards all.

The giving up - the total uprooting - of vanity and pride is a great task; but it is a blessed
task, and it can be accomplished by constant practice in non-resentment and by
meditating upon one's thoughts and actions so as to understand and purify them; and
the spirit of forgiveness is perfected in one in the measure that pride and vanity are
overcome and abandoned.

The not-taking-offence and the not-giving-offence go together. When a man ceases to

resent the actions of others he is already acting kindly towards them, considering them
before himself or his own defence.Such a man will be gently in what he says and does,
will arouse love and kindness in others, and not stir them up to ill-will and strife. He will
also be free from all fear concerning the actions of others towards him, for he who hurts
none fears none. But the unforgiving man, he who is eager to "pay back" some real or
imaginary slight or injury, will not be considerate towards others, for he considers himself
first, and is continually making enemies; he also loves in the fear of others, thinking that
that they are trying to do towards him as he is doing towards them. He who contrives the
hurt of others fears others.

That is a beautiful story of Prince Dhirgayu which was told by an ancient Indian teacher
to his disciples in order to impress them with the truth of the ublime percept that "hatred
ceases not by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by not-hatred." The story is as follows:-
Brahmadatta, a powerful king of Benares, made war upon Dirgheti, the king of Kosala, in
order to annex his kingdom, which was much smaller than his own. Dirgheti, seeing that
it was impossible for him to resist the greater power of bramhadatta, fled, and left his
kingdom in his enemy's hands. For some time he wandered from place to place in
disguise, and at last settled down with his queen in an artisan's cottage; and the queen
gave birth to a son, whom they called Dirghayu.

Now, King Brahmadatta was anxious to dsicover the hiding-place of Dirgheti, in order to
put to death the conquered king, for he thought, "Seeing that I have deprived him of his
kingdom he may someday treacherously kill me If I do not kill him."
But many years passed away, and Dirgheti devoted himself to the education of his son,.
who by dilligent application, became learned and skillful and wise.

And after a time Dirgheti's secret became known, and he, fearing that brahmadatta
would discover him and slay all three, and thinking more of the life of his son than his
own, sent away the prince. Soon after the exile king fell into the hands of Brahmadatta,
and was, along with his queen, executed.

Now Brahmadatta thought: I have got rid of Dirgheti and his queen, but thier son , Prince
Dirghayu, lives, and he will be sure to contrive some means of effecting my
assassination; yet he is unknown to any, and I have no means of discovering him." So
the king lived in great fear and continual distress of mind.

Soon after the execution of his parents, Dirghayu, under an assumed name, sought
employment in the king's stables, and was engaged by the master of elephants.

Dirghayu quickly endeared himself to all, and his superior abilities came at last under the
notice of the king, who had the young man brought before him, and was so charmed with
him that he employed him in his own castle, and he proved to be so able and diligent
that the king shortly placed him in a position of great trust under himself.

one day the king went on a long hunting expedtion, and became seperated from his
retinue, Dirghayu alone remaining with him. And the king, being fatigued with his
exertions, lay down, and slept with his head in Dirghayu's lap.

Then Dirghayu thought: This king has greatly wronged me. He robbed my father of his
kingdom, and slew my parents, and he is now entirely in my power." And he drew his
sword, thinking to slay Brahmadatta. But, remembering how his father had taught him
never to seek revenge but to forgive to the uttermost, he sheathed his sword.

At last the king awoke out of a disturbed sleep, and the youth inquired of him why he
looked so frightened. "My sleep", said the king "is always restless, for I frequently dream
that I am in the power of young Dirghayu and that he is alone to slay me. While lying
here I again dreamed that with greater vividness than ever before and it has filled me
with dread and terror.

Then the youth, drawing his sword, said: "I am Prince Dirghayu, and you are in my
power: the time of vengeance has arrived."

Then the king fell upon his knees and begged Dirghayu to spare his life. And Dirghayu
said: "It is you, O King! who must spare my life. For many years you have wished to find
me in order that you might kill me; and , now that you have found me, let me beg of you
to grant me my life."

And there and then did Brahmadatta and Dirghayu grant each other life, took hands, and
solemnly vowed never to harm each other. And so overcome was the king by the noble
and forgiving spirit of Dirghayu that he gave him his daughter in marriage, and restored
to him his father's kingdom.

Thus hatred ceases by not-hatred- by forgiveness, which is very beautiful, and is

sweeter and more effective than revenge. It is the beginning of love, of that divine love
that does not seek its own; and he who practises it, who perfects himself in it, comes at
last to realise that blessed state wherein the torments of pride and vanity and hatred and
retaliation are forever dispelled, and good-will and peace are unchanging and unlimited.
In that state of calm, silent bliss, even forgiveness passes away, and is no longer
needed, for he who has reached it sees no evil to resent but only ignorance and delusion
on which to have compassion, and forgiveness is only needed so long as there is any
tendency to resent, retaliate, and take offence. Equal love towards all is the perfect law,
the perfect state in which all lesser states find their completion. Forgiveness is one of the
doorways in the faultless temple of Love Divine.
 Chapter 8: Seeing No Evil
The solid, solid universe
Is pervious to love;
With bandaged eyes he never errs,
Around, below, above.
His blinding light
He flingeth white
On God's and Satan's brood,
And reconciles
By mystic wiles
The evil and the good."

---Emerson

"If thou thinkest evil, be thou sure

Thine acts will bear the shadow of the stain;
And if they thought be perfect, then thy deed
Will be as of the perfect, true, and pure."

---After Confucius

After much practice in forgiveness and having cultivated the spirit of forgiveness up to a
certain point, knowledge of the actual nature of good and evil dawns upon the mind, and
a man begins to understand how thoughts and motives are formed in the human heart,
how they develop, and how take birth in the form of actions. This marks the opening of a
new vision in the mind, the commencement of a nobler, higher, diviner life; for the man
now begins to perceive that there is no necessity to resist or resent the actions of others
towards him, whatever those actions may be, and that all along his resentment has been
caused by his own ignorance, and that his own bitterness of spirit is wrong. Having
arrived thus far he will take himself with some such questionings as these: "Why this
continual retaliation and forgiveness ? Why this tormenting anger against another and
then this repentance and forgiveness ? Is not forgiveness the taking back of one's anger,
the giving up of one's resentment; and if anger and resentment are good and necessary
why repent of them and give them up ? If it is so beautiful, so sweet, so peacful to get rid
of all feelings of bitterness and to utterly and wholly forgive, would it not be still more
beautiful and sweet and peaceful never to grow bitter at all, never to know anger, never
to resent as evil the action of another, but always to live in the experience of that pure,
calm, blissful love which is known when an act of forgiveness is done, and all unruly
passion towards another is put away ? If another has done me wrong is not my hatred
towards him wrong, and acn one wrong right another ? Moreover, has he by his wrong
really injured me, or has he injured himself? Am I not injured by my own wrong rather
than by his ? Why, then, do I grow angry? why do I resent, retaliate, and engage in bitter
thoughts? Is it not because my pride is piqued or my vanity wounded or my selfishness
thwarted ? Is not because my blind animal passions are aroused and allowed to subdue
my better nature ? Seeing that I am hurt by another person's attitude towards me
because of my own pride or vanity or ungoverned and unpurified passions, would it not
be better to look to the wrong in myself rather than the wrong in another, to get rid of
pride and vanity and passion, and so avoid being hurt at all ?

By such self-questionings and their elucidation in the light of mild thoughts and
dispassionate conduct a man, gradually overcoming passion and rising out of the
ignorance which gave rise to passion, will at last reach that blessed state in which he will
cease to see evil in others, and will dwell in universal good-will and love and peace. Not
that he will cease to see ignorance and folly; not that he will cease to see suffering and
sorrow and misery; not that he will cease to distinguish between acts that are pure and
impure, right and wrong, for, having put away passion and prejudice, he will see these
things in the full, clear light of knowledge, and exactly as they are; but he will cease to
see anything-any evil power- in another which can do him injury, which he must violently
oppose and strive to crush, and against which he must guard himself. Having arrived at
right understanding of evil by purging it away from his own heart he sees that it is a thing
that does not call for hatred and fear and resenment but for consideration, compassion,
and love.

Shakespeare through one of his characters says: "There is no darkness but ignorance."
All evil is ignorance, is dense darkness of mind, and the removal of sin from one's mind
is a coming out of darkness into spiritual light. Evil is the negation of good, just as
darkness is the negation, or absence of light, and what is there in a negation to arouse
anger or resentment ? When night settles down upon the world who is so foolish as to
rail at the darkness? The enlightened man, likewise, does not accuse or condemn the
spirtual darkness in men's hearts which is manifested in the form of sin, though by gentle
reproof he may sometimes point out where the light lies.

Now the ignorance to which I refer as evil, or as the source of evil, is two-fold. There is
wrong-doing which is committed without any knowledge of good and evil, and where
there is no choice - this is unconscious wrong-doing. Then there is wrong-doing which is
done in the knowledge that it ought not to be done - this is conscious wrong-doing; but
both unconscious and conscious wrong-doing arise in ignorance-that is, ignorance of the
real nature and painful consequences of the wrong-doing.

Why does a man continue to do certain things which he feels he ought not to do? If he
knows that what he is doing is wrong where lies the ignorance?
He continues to do those things because his knowledge of them is incomplete. He only
knows he ought not to do them by certain precepts without and qualms of conscience
within, but he does not fully and completely understand what he is doing. He knows that
certain acts bring him immediate pleasure, and so, in spite of the troubled conscience
which follows that pleasure, he continues to commit them. He is convinced that the
pleasure is good and desireable, and therefore to be enjoyed. He does not know that
pleasure and pain are one, but thinks he can have the one without the other. He has no
knowledge of the law which governs human actions, and never thinks of associating his
sufferings with his own wrong-doing, but believes that they are caused by the wrong-
doing of others or are the mysterious dispensations of Providence, and therefore not to
be inquired into or understood. He is seeking happiness, and does those things which he
believes will bring him most enjoyment, but he acts in entire ignorance of the hidden and
inevitable consequences which attach to his actions.

Said a man to me once who was the victim of a bad habit: "I know the habit is a bad one,
and that it does me more harm than good" I said: " If you know that what you are doing is
bad and harmful why do you continue to do it?" And he replied: "Because it is pleasnt,
and I like it.

This man, of course,did not really know that his habit was bad. He had been told that it
was, and he thought he knew or believed it was, but in reality he thought it was good,
that it was conducive to his happiness and well-being, and therefore he continue to
practise it. When a man knows by experience that a thing is bad, and that every time he
does it he injuries body or mind, or both; when his knowledge of that thing is so complete
that he is accquainted with its hole train of baneful effects, then he cannot only not do it
any longer, he cannot even desire to do it, and even the pleasure that was formerly in
that thing becomes painful. No man would put a venomous snake in his pocket because
it is prettily coloured. He knows that a deadly sting lurks in those beautiful markings. Nor,
when a man knows the unavoidable pain and hurt which lie hidden in wrong thoughts
and acts, does he continue to think and commit them. Even the immediate pleasure
which formerly he greedily sought is gone from them; their surface attractiveness has
vanished; he is no longer ignorant concerning their true nature; he sees them as they
are.

I knew a young man who was in business, and although a member of a church, and
occupying the position of voluntary religious instructor, he told me that it was absolutely
necessary to practise lying and deception in business, otherwise sure and certain ruin
would follow. He said he knew lying was wrong, but while he remained in business he
must continue to do it. Upon questioning him I found, of course, that he had never tried
truth and honesty in his business, had not even thought of trying the better way, so firmly
convinced was he that it was not possible for him to know whether or not it would be
productive or ruin. Now, did this young man know that lying was wrong? There was a
preceptial sense only in which he knew, but there was a deeper and more real sense in
which he did not know. He had been taught to regard lying as wrong, and his conscience
bore out that teaching, but he believed that it brought to him profit, proesperity and
happiness, and that honesty would bring him loss, poverty, and misery - in a word, he
regarded lying, deep in his heart, as the right thing to do, and honesty as the wrong
practice. He had no knowledge whatever of the real nature of the act of lying: how it is,
on the instant of its committal, loss of character, loss of self-respect, loss of power,
usefulness, and influence, and loss of blessedness; and how it unerrinngly leads to loss
of reputation and loss of material profit and prosperity. Only when such a man begins to
consider happiness of others, prefers to embrace the loss which he fears rather than
clutch at the gain which he desires, will he obtain that real knowledge which lofty moral
conduct alone can reveal; and then, experiencing the greater blessedness, he will see
how, all along, he has been deceiving and defrauding himself rather than others, has
been living in darkest ignorance and self-delusion.

These two common instances of wrong-doing will serve to illustrate and make plainer, to
those of my readers who, while searching for Truth, are as yet doubtful, uncertain, and
confused, the deep Truth that all sin, or evil, is a condition of ignorance and therefore to
be dealt with in a loving and not a hateful spirit.

And as with bad habits and lying so with all sin - with lust, hatred, malice, envy, pride,
vanity, self-indulgence and selfishness in all its forms; it is a state of spiritual darkness,
the absence of the Light of Truth in the heart, the negation of knowledge.

Thus when, by overcoming the wrong condition in one's own heart, the nature of evil is
fully realised and mere belief gives place to living knowledge, evil can no longer be
hatefully condomned and voilently resisted, and the wrong-doer is thought of with tender
compassion.

And this brings us to another aspect of evil-namely, that of individual freedom; the right
of every person to choose his own actions. Along with the seeing of evil in others is the
desire to convert or coerce others into one's own ways of thinking and acting. Probably
the commenest delusion in which men are involved is that of thinking that what they
themselves believe and think and do is good, and all that is otherwise is evil, and
therfore to be powerfully condemned and resisted. It is out of this delusion that all
persecutions springs. There are christians who regard all Atheists as men wholly evil, as
given up to the service of an evil power; and there are Atheists who firmly believe that all
christians are doing the greatest harm to the whole human race by their "superstitious
and false doctrines." The truth is that neither the christian nor the Atheist is evil, nor in
the service of evil, but each is choosing his own way, and is pursuing that course which
he is convinced is right.
Let a man quietly contemplate the fact that numbers of followers of various religons the
world over are, as they ever were, engaged in condemning each other as evil and
wrong, and regarding themselves as good and right, and it will help him to realise how all
evil is merely ignorance, spiritual darkness; and earnest meditation on that fact will be
found to be one of the greatest aids in developing greater kindness, charity, insight and
breadth of mind.

The truly wise and good man sees good in all, evil in none. He has abandoned the folly
of wanting others to think and act as he thinks and acts, for he sees men are variously
constituted, are at different points in their spritual evolution, and must, of necessity, think
and act differently. Having put away hatred, condemnation, egotism, and prejudice he
has become enlightened, and sees that purity, love compassion, gentleness, patience,
humility, and unselfishness are manifestations of light and knowledge; while impurity,
hatred, cruelty, passion, darkness and ignorance; and that whether men are living in light
or darkness thay are one and all doing that which they think is necessary, are acting in
accordance with thier own measure of light or darkness. The wise man understands and
understanding, he ceases from all bitterness and accusation.

Every man acts in accordance with his nature, with his own sense of right and wrong,
and is surely gathering in the results of his own experience. There is one supreme right
which evry being possesses - to think and act as he chooses. If he chooses to think and
act selfishly, thinking of his own immediate happiness only and not of that of others ,
then he will rapidly bring upon himself, by the action of the moral law of cause and effect,
such afflictions as will cause him to pause and consider, and so find a better way. There
is no teacher to compare with experience, no chastisement so corrective and purifying
as that which men ignorantly inflict upon themselves. The selfish man is the ignorant
man; he chooses his own way, but it is a way which leads to suffering, and through
suffering to knowledge and bliss. The good man is the wise man; he likewise chooses
his own way, but he chooses it in the full light of knowledge, having passed through the
stages of ignorance and suffering, and arrived at knowledge and bliss.

A man begins to understand what "seeing no evil" is when, putting away all personal
desires in his judgments of others, he considers them from their own standpoint, and
judges their actions not from his own standard but from theirs. It is because men setup
arbitrary standards of right and wrong, and are anxious that all should conform to their
particular standard, that they see evil in each other. A man is only rightly judged when he
is judged not from my standard or yours but from his own, and to deal with him thus is
not judgment it is Love. It is only when we look through the eyes of Impersonal Love that
we become enlightened, and see others as they really are; and a man is approaching
that Love when he can say in his heart: "Who am I that I should judge another? Am I so
pure and sinless that I arraign men and pass the judgment of evil upon them? Rather let
me humble myself, and correct mine own errors, before assuming the position of
supreme judge of those of other men."

It was said by one of old to those who were about to stone, as evil, a woman taken in the
act of committing one of the darkest sins: "He that is without sin let him cast the first
stone"; and though he who said it was without sin yet he took up no stone, nor passed
any bitter judgment, but said, with infinite gentleness and compassion: "Neither do I
condemn thee; go, and sin no more."

In the pure heart there is no room left where personal judgements and hatreds can find
lodgement,for it is filled to overflowing with tenderness and love; it sees no evil; and only
as men succeed in seeing no evil in others will they become free from sin and sorrow
and suffering.

No man sees evil in himself or his own acts except the man who is becoming
enlightened, and then he abandons those acts which he has come to see are wrong.
Every man justifies himself in what he does, and, however evil others may regard his
conduct, he himself thinks it to be good and necessary; If he did not he would not, could
not do it. The angry man always justifies his anger; the covetous man his greed; the
impure man his unchastity; the liar considers that his lying is altogether necessary; the
slanderer believes that, in vilifying the characters of those whom he dislikes, and warning
other people against their "evil" natures, he is doing well; the thief is convinced that
stealing is the shortest and best way to plenty, prosperity, and happiness; and even the
murderer thinks that there is a ground of justification for his deed.

Every man's deeds are in accordance with the measure of his own light or darkness, and
no man can live higher than he is or act beyond the limits of his knowledge.
Nevertheless, he can improve himself, and thereby gradually increase his light and
extend the range of his knowledge. The angry man indulgence in raillery and abuse
because his knowledge does not extend to forbearance and patience. Not having
practised gentleness, he does not understand it, and cannot choose it; nor can he know,
by its comparison with the light of gentleness,the darkness of anger. It is the same with
the liar, the slanderer, and the thief; he lives in this dark condition of mind and action
because he is limited to it by his immature knowledge and experience, because never
having lived in the higher conditions, he has no knowledge of them, and it is, to him, as if
they were non-existent: "The light shineth in the darkness and the darkness
comprehendenth it not. Nor can he understand even the conditions in which he is living,
because, being dark, they are necessarily devoid of all knowledge.

When a man driven by repeated sufferings to at last reflect upon his conduct, comes to
see that his anger or lying, or whatever ignorant condition he may have been living in, is
productive only of trouble and sorrow then he abandons it, and commences to search for
, and practise, the opposite and enlightened condition; and when he is firmly established
in the better way, so that his knowledge of both conditions is complete, then he realises
in what great darkness he had formerly lived. This knowledge of good and evil by
experience constitutes enlightment.

When a man begins to look, as it were, through the eyes of others, and to measure them
by thier own standard and not by his, then he ceases from seeing of evil in others, for he
knows that every man's perception and standard of good and evil is different; that there
is no vice so low but some men regard itas good; no virtue so high but some men regard
it as evil; and what a man regards as good that to him is good; what he regards as evil
that to him is evil.

Nor will the purified man, who has ceased to see evil in others, have any desire to win
men to his own ways or opinions, but will rather help them in their own particular groove,
knowing that an enlarged experience only, and not merely change of opinion can lead to
higher knowledge and greater blessedness.

It will be found that men see evil in those who differ from them, good in those who agree
with them. The man who greatly loves himself and is enarmoured of his opinions will love
all those who agree with him and will dislike all those who disagree with him. "If ye love
them that love ye, what reward have ye?.... Love your enemies, do good to them that
hate you." Egotism and vanity make men blind. Men of opposing religious views hate
and persecute each other; men of opposing political views fight and condemn each
other. The partisan measures all men by his own standard, and sets up his judgements
accordingly. So convinced is he that he is right and others wrong that he atlast
persuades himself that to inflict cruelty on others is both good and necessary in order to
coerce them into his way of thinking and acting, and so bring them to the right - his right -
against their own reason and will.

Men hate, condemn, resist and inflict suffering upon each other, not because they are
intrinsically evil, not because they are deliberately "wicked" and are doing, in the full light
of truth, what they know to be wrong, but because they regard such conduct as
necessary and right. All men are intrinsically good, but some are wiser than others, are
older in experience than others. I recently heard, in substance, the following
conversation between two men whom I will call D- and E-. The third person refered to as
X is a prominent politician:-

E. Every man reaps the result of his own thoughts and deeds, and suffers for his own
wrong.

D. If that is so, and if no man can escape from the penalty of his evil deeds, what an
inferno some of our men in power must be preparing for themselves.
E. Whether a man is in power or not, so long as he lives in ignorance and sin, he will
reap sorrow and suffering.

D. Look, for instance, at X-, a man totally evil, given up entirely to selfishness and
ambition; surely great torments are reserved for so unprincipled a man.

E. But how do you know he is so evil.

D. By his works, his fruits. When I see a man doing evil I know that he is evil; and I
cannot even think of X- but I burn with righteous indignation. Iam sometimes inclined to
doubt that there is an overruling power for good when I see such a man in a position
where he can do so much harm to others.

E. What evil is he commiting ?

D. His whole policy is evil. He will ruin the country if he remains in power.

E. But while there are large numbers of people who think of X- as you do there are also
large numbers, equally intelligent, who look on him as good and able, who admire him
for his excellent qualities, and regard his policy as beneficent and making for national
progress. He owes his position to these people; are they also evil ?

D. They are deceived and mislead. And this only makes - X's evil all the greater, in that
he can so succesfully employ his talents in deceiving others in order to gain his own
selfish ends. I hate the man.

E. May it not be possible that you are deceived ?

D. In what way ?

E. Hatred is self-deception; love is self-enlightenment. No man can see either himself or

others clearly until he ceases from hatred and practises love.

D. That sounds very beautiful, but it is impracticable. When I see a man doing evil to
others, and deceiving and misleading them, I must hate him. It is right that I should do
so. X- is without a spark of conscience.

E. X- may or may not be all you beleive to be, but, even if he is, according to your own
words, he should be pitied and not condemned.

D. How so ?

E. You say he is without a conscience.

D. Entirely so.

E. Then he is a mental cripple.Do you hate the blind because they cannot see, that
dumb because they cannot speak, or the deaf because they cannot hear ? When a
captain has lost his rudder or broken his compass do you condemn him beause he did
not keep his ship off the rocks ? Do you hold him responsible for the loss of life? If a man
is totally devoid of conscience he is without the means of moral guidance, and all his
selfishness must, perforce, appear to him good and right and proper. X- may appear evil
to you, but is he evil to himself? Does he regard his own conduct as evil?

D. Whether he regards himself as evil or not he is evil.

E. If I were to regard you as evil because of your hatred for X- should I be right?

D. No.

E. Why not?

D. Because in such a case hatred is necessary, justifiable and righteous. There is such a
thing as righteous anger, righteous hatred.

E. Is there such a thing as righteous selfishness, righteous ambition, righteous evil ? I

should be quite wrong in regarding you as evil, because you are doing what you are
convinced is right, because you regard your hatred for X- as part of your duty as a man
and a citizen; nevertheless, there is a better way that that of hatred, and it is the
knowledge of this better way that prevents me from hating X- as you do, because
however wrong his conduct might appear to me, it is not wrong to him nor to his
supporters; moreover, all men reap as they sow.

D. What, then, is that better way?

E. It is the way of Love; the ceasing to regard others as evil. It is a blessed and peaceful
state of heart.

D. Do you mean that there is a state which a man can reach wherein he will grow angry
when he sees people doing evil?

E. No, I do not mean that, for while a man regards others as evil he will continue to grow
angry with them; but I mean that a man can reach a state of calm insight and spotless
love wherein he sees no evil to grow angry with, wherein he understands the various
natures of men - how they are prompted to act, and how they reap, as the harvest of
their own thoughts and deeds, the tares of sufferings and the corn of bliss. To reach that
state is to regard all men with compassion and love.

D. The state that you picture is a very high one- it is, no doubt, a very holy and beautiful
one- but it is a state that I should be sorry to reach; and I should pray to be preserved
from a state of mind were I could not hate a man like X- with an intense hatred.

Thus by this conversation it will be seen that D- regarded his hatred as good. Even so all
men regard that which they do as necessary to be done. The things which men
habitually practice those things they believe in. When faith in a thing wholly ceases it
ceases to be practised. D-'s individual liberty is equal to that of other men, and he has a
right to hate another if he so wishes, nor will he abandon his hatred until he discovers, by
the sorrow and unrest which it entails, how wrong and foolish and blind it is, and how, by
its practice, he is injuring himself.

A great Teacher was once asked by one of His disciples to explain the distinction
between good and evil, and holding His hand with the fingers pointing downward, He
said: "Where is my hand pointing?"

And the disciple replied: "It is ponting downward."

Then, turning His hand upward, the Teacher asked: "Where now is my hand pointing?"

And the disciple answered: "It is pointing upward."

"That," said the Teacher, "is the distinction between evil and good."

By this simple illustration He indicated that evil is merely wrongly-directed energy, and
good rightly-directed energy, and that the so-called evil man becomes good by reversing
his conduct.

To understand the true nature of evil by living in the good is to cease to see other men
as evil. Blessed is he who, turning from the evil in others exerts himself in the purification
of his own heart. He shall one day become of "too pure eyes to behold evil."

Knowing the nature of evil, what does it behove a man to do? It behoves him to live only
in that which is good: therefore if a man condemn me, I will not condemn him in return; if
he revile me I will give him kindness; if he slander me I will speak of his good qualities, if
he hate me then he greatly needs, and shall receive, my love. With the impatient I will be
patient; with the greedy I will be generous, and with the violent and quarrelsome I will be
mild and peaceable. Seeing no evil, whom should I hate or who regard as mine enemy?
 "Were mankind murderous or jealous upon you, my brother, my sister?
I'm so sorry for you. They are not murderous or jealous upon me;
All has been gentle with me, I keep no account with lamentation;
What have I to do with lamentation?"

He who sees men as evil imagines that behind those acts which are called "wicked"
there is a corporate and substantial evil prompting those particular sins but he of
stainless vision sees the deeds, themselves as the evil, and knows that there is no evil
power, no evil soul or man behind those deeds. The substance of the universe is good;
there is no substance of evil.Goodalone is permanent; there is no fixed or permanent
evil.

As brothers and sisters, born of the same parents and being of one house-hold, love
each other through all vicissitudes, see no evil in each other, but overlook all errors, and
cling together in the strong bonds of affection-even so the good man sees humanity as
one spiritual family, born of the same Father-Mother, being of the same essence and
making for the same goal, and he regards all men and women as his brothers and
sisters, makes no divisions and distinctions, sees none as evil, but is at peace with all.
Happy is he who attains to this blessed state.
 Chapter 9: Abiding Joy
"Who carry music in their heart
Through dusky alne and wrangleing mart,
plying their daily toil with busier feet,
Because their secret souls a holier repeat."

"Serene will be our days and bright,

And happy will our nature be,
When love is an unerring light,
And joy its own security.

---Wordsworth

ABIDING joy! Is there such a thing ? Where is it? Who possesses it? Yea; there is such
a thing. It is where there is no sin. It is possessed by the pure hearted.

As darkness is a passing shadow, and light is substance that remains, so sorrow is

fleeting, but joy abides for ever. No true thing can pass away and become lost; no false
thing can remain and be preserved. Sorrow is false, and it cannot live; joy is true, and it
cannot die. Joy may become hidden for a time, but it can be always be recovered;
sorrow may remain for a period, but it can be transcended and dispersed.

Do not think your sorrow will remain; it will pass away like a cloud. Do not believe that
the torments of sin are ever your portion; they will vanish like a hideous nightmare.
Awake! arise! Be holy and Joyful!

You are the creator of your own shadows; you desire and then you grieve; renounce and
then you all rejoice.

You are not the impotent slave of sorrow; the Never-Ending Gladness awaits your
Home-coming.You are not the helpless prisioner of the darkness and dreams of sin;
even now the beautiful light of holiness shines upon your sleeping lids, ready to greet
your awakening vision.

In the heavy, troubled sleep of sin and self the abiding joy is lost and forgotten; its
undying music is no more heard, and the fragrance of its fadeless flowers no longer
cheers the heart of the wayfarer.
But when sin and self are abandoned, when the clinging to things for personal pleasure
is put away, then the shadows of grief disappear, and the heart is restored to its
Imperishable Joy.

Joy comes and fills the self-emptied heart; it abides with the peaceful; its reign is with the
pure.

Joy flees from the selfish; it deserts the quarrel-some; it is hidden from the impure.

Joy is as an angel so beautiful and delicate and chaste that she can only dwell with
holiness. She cannot remain with selfishness; she is wedded to Love. Every man is truly
happy in so far as he is unselfish; he is miserable in so far as he is selfish. All truly good
men, and by good men I mean those who have fought victoriously the battle against self,
are men of joy. How great is the jubiliation of the saint ! No true teacher promises sorrow
as the ultimate of life; he promises joy. He points to sorrow, but only as a process which
sin has rendered necessary. Where self ends grief passes away. Joy is the companion
of righteousness. In the divine life tender compassion fills the place where weeping
sorrow sat. During the process of becoming unselfish there are periods of deep sorrow.
Purification is necessarily severe. All becoming is painful. Abiding joy is its completion is
realised only in the perfection of being, and this is

"A state
Where all is lovelines, and power and love,
With all sublimest qualities of mind,
.. Where all
Enjoy entire dominion o'er themselves.
Acts, feelings, thoughts, conditions, qualities."

Consider how a flower evolves and becomes; at first there is a little germ groping its way
in the dark soil towards the upper light; then the plant appears, and leaf is added unto
leaf; and finally the perfected flower appears, in the sweet perfume and chaste beauty of
which all effort ceases.

So, with human life; at first the blind groping for the light in the dark soil of selfishness
and ignorance; then the coming into the light, and the gradual overcoming of selfishness
with its accompanying pain and sorrow; and finally the perfect flower of a pure, unselfish
life, giving forth, without effort, the perfume of holiness and the beauty of joy.

The good, the pure, are the superlatively happy. However men may argumentatively
deny or qualify this, humanity instinctively knows it to be true. Do not men everywhere
picture their angels as the most joyful of beings? There are joyful angels in bodies of
flesh; we meet them and pass on; and how many of those who come in contact with
them are sufficiently pure to see vision within the form - to see the incorruptible angel in
its common instrument of clay?

"They needs must grope who cannot see,

The blade before the ear must be;
The outward symbols disappear
From him whose inward sight is clear."

Yes; the pure are the joyful. We look almost in vain for any expressions of sorrow in the
words of Jesus. The "Man of Sorrows" is only completed in the Man of Joy.

"I, Buddha, who wept with all my brother's tears,

Whose heart was broken by a whole world's woe,
Laugh and am glad, for there is Liberty!"

In sin, and in the struggle against sin, there is unrest and affliction, but in the perfection
of Truth, in the path of Righteousness, there is abiding joy.

"Enter the Path! There spring the healing streams

Quenching all thirst! There bloom th' immortal flowers
Carpeting all the way with joy! There throng
Swiftest and sweetest hours!"

Tribulation lasts only so long as there remains some chaff of self which needs to be
removed. The tribulum, or threshing-machine, ceases to work when all the grain is
separated from chaff; and when the last impurities are blown away from the soul,
tribulation has completed its work, and there is no more need for it; then abiidng joy is
realised.

All the saints and prophets and saviors of the race have proclaimed with rejoicing the
"Gospel" or the "Good News." All men know what Good News is - An impending calamity
avoided, a disease cured, friends arrived or returned in safety, difficulties overcome,
success in some enterprise assured - but what is the "Good News" of the saintly ones?
This: that there is peace for the troubled, healing for the afflicted, gladness for the grief-
stricken, victory for the sinful, a homecoming for the wanderer, and joy for the sorrowing
and broken-hearted. Not that these beautiful realities shall be in some future world, but
they are here and now, that they are known and realised and enjoyed; and are,
therefore, proclaimed that all may accept them who will break the galling bonds of self
and rise into the glorious liberty of unselfish love.

Seek the highest Good, and as you find it, as you practise it and realise it, you will taste
the deepest, sweetest joy. As you succeed in forgetting your own selfish desires in your
thoughtfulness for others, in your care for others, in your service for others, just so far
and no further will you find and realise the abiding joy in life.

Inside the gateway of unselfishness lies the elysium of Abiding Joy, and whosoever will
may enter in, whosoever doubts let him come and see.

And knowing this - that selfishness leads to misery, unselfishness to joy, not merely for
one's self alone - for if this were all how unworthy could be our endeavours! - but for the
whole world and because all with whom we live and come in contact will be the happier
and truer for our unselfishness; because Humanity is one, and the joy of one is the joy of
all - knowing this let us scatter flowers and not thorns in the common ways of life - yea,
even in the highway of our enemies let us scatter the blossoms of unselfish love - so
shall the pressure in their footprints fill the air with the perfume of holiness and gladen
the world with the aroma of joy.
 Chapter 10: Silentness
"Be still! The crown of life is silentness.
Give thou a quiet hour to each long day,
Too much of time we spend in profitless
And foolish talk. Too little do we say.

"If thou wouldst gather words that shall avail,

Learning a wisdom worthy to express,
Leave for a while thy chat and empty tale-
Study the golden speech of silentness."

----A.L.Salmon.

"Be still, my soul.

Rest awhile from the feverish activities in
which you lose yourself.
Be not afraid to be left alone with yourself
for one short hour."

----Ernest Crosly.

In the words of a wise man there is great power, but his silence is more powerful still.
The greatest men teach us most effectively when they are purposely silent. The silent
attitude of the great man noted, perhaps, by one or two of his disciples only is recorded
and preserved through the ages; while the obtrusive words of the merely clever talker,
heard, perhaps, by thousands, and at once popularised, are neglected and forgotten in,
at most, a few generations. The silence of Jesus, when asked by Pilate "What is Truth?"
is the impressive, the awful silence of profound wisdom; it is pregnant with humility and
reproof, and perpetually rebukes that shallowness that, illustrating the truth that "fools
step in where angels fear to tread," would in terms of triteness parcel out the universe, or
think to utter the be-all and the end-all of the mystery of things in some textual formula or
theological platitude. When, plied with questions about Brahma (God) by the
argumentative Brahmans, Buddha remained silent, he taught them better than they
knew, and if by his silence he failed to satisfy the foolish he thereby profoundly instructed
the wise. Why all this ceaseless talk about God, with its accompaniment of intolerance?
Let men practise some measure of kindliness and good-will, and thereby acquaint
themselves with the simple rudiments of wisdom. Why all these speculative arguments
about the nature of God? Let us first understand somewhat of ourselves. There are no
greater marks of folly and moral immaturity than irreverence and presumption; no greater
manifestations of wisdom and moral maturity than reverence and humility. Lao-Tze, in
his own life, exemplified his teaching that the wise man "teaches without words."
Disciples were attracted to him by the power which ever accompanies a wise reserve.
Living in comparative obscurity and silence, not courting the ear of men, and never going
out to teach, men sought him out and learned of him wisdom.

The silent acts of the Great Ones are beacons to the wise, illuminating their pathway
with no uncertain radiance, for he would attain to virtue and wisdom must learn, not only
when to speak and what to say, but also when to remain silent and what not to say. The
right control of the tongue is the beginning of wisdom; the right control of the mind is the
consummation of wisdom. By curbing his tongue a man gains possession of his mind,
and to have complete possession of one's mind is to be a Master of Silence.

The fool babbles, gossips, argues, and bandies words. He glories in the fact that he has
had the last word and has silenced his opponent. He exults in his own folly, is ever on
the defensive, and wastes his energies in unprofitable channels. He is like a gardener
who continues to dig and plant in unproductive soil.

The wise man avoids idle words, gossip, vain argument, and self-defence. He is content
to appear defeated; rejoices when he is defeated, knowing that, having found and
removed another error in himself he has thereby become wiser. Blessed is he who does
not strive for the last word!

"Backward I see in my own days where I sweated through

fog with linguists and contenders;
I have no mockings or arguments, I witness and wait "

Silence under provocation is the mark of a cultured and sympathetic soul. The
thoughtless and unkind are stirred by every slight provocation, and will lose their mental
balance by even the appearance of a personal encroachment. The self-possession of
Jesus is not a miracle; it is the flower of culture, the diadem of wisdom. When we read of
Jesus that "He answered never a word" and of Buddha that "He remained silent," we get
a glimpse of the vast power of silence, of the silent majesty of true greatness.

The silent man is the powerful man. The victim of garrulity is devoid of influence; his
spiritual energies are dissipated. Every mechanic knows that before a force can be
utilised and definitely directed it must be conserved and stored; and the wise man is a
spiritual mechanic who conserves the energies of his mind, holds them in masterful
abeyance, ready at any moment to direct them, with effective purpose, to the
accomplishment of some necessary work.
The true strength is in silentness. It is well said that "The dog that barks does not bite."
The grim and rarely broken silence of the bull-dog is the necessary adjunct to that
powerfully concentrated and effectual action for which the animal is known and feared.
This, of course, is a lower form of silentness, but the principle is the same. The boaster
fails; his mind is diverted from the main purpose; and his energies are frittered away
upon self-glorification. His forces are divided between his task and the reward to himself,
the greater portion going to feed the lust of reward. He is like an unskilful general who
loses the battle through dividing his forces instead of concentrating them upon a point.
Or he is like a careless engineer who leaves open the waste-valve of his engine and
allows the steam to run down. The modest, silent, earnest man succeeds: freed from
vanity, and avoiding the dissipation of self-glorification, all his powers are concentrated
upon the successful performance of his task. Even while the other man is talking about
his powers he is already about his work, and is so much nearer than the other to its
completion. It is a law everywhere and always that energy distributed is subject unto
energy conserved. The noisy and boasting Charles will ever be thrown by the quiet and
modest Orlando.

It is a law universally applicable that quietness is strength. The business man who
succeeds never talks about his plans, methods, and affairs, and should he, turned giddy
by success, begin to do this he will then commence to fail. The man of great moral
influence never talks about himself and his spiritual victories, for, should he do so, in that
moment his moral power and influence would be gone, and, like Samson, he would be
shorn of his strength. Success, worldly or spiritual, is the willing servant of strong,
steady, silent, unflinching purpose. The most powerful disintegrating forces make no
noise. The greatly-overcoming mind works silently.

If you would be strong, useful, and self-reliant learn the value and power of silentness.
Do not talk about yourself. The world instinctively knows that the vain talker is weak and
empty, and so it leaves him to his own vanity. Do not talk about what you are going to do
but do it, and let your finished work speak for itself. Do not waste your forces in criticising
and disparaging the work of others but set about to do your own work thoroughly and
well. The worst work with earnestness and sweetness behind it is altogether better than
barking at others. While you are disparaging the work of others you are neglecting your
own. If others are doing badly help and instruct them by doing better yourself. Neither
abuse others nor account their abuse of any weight. When attacked remain silent: in this
way you will conquer yourself, and will, without the use of words, teach others.

But the true silence is not merely a silent tongue; it is a silent mind. To merely hold one's
tongue, and yet to carry about a disturbed and rankling mind, is no remedy for weakness
and no source of power. Silentness, to be powerful, must envelop the whole mind, must
permeate every chamber of the heart; it must be the silence of peace. To this broad,
deep, abiding silentness a man attains only in the measure that he conquers himself.
While passions, temptations, and sorrows disturb, the holier, profounder depths of
silence are yet to be sounded. To smart under the words and actions of others means
that you are yet weak, uncontrolled, unpurified. So rid your heart of the disturbing
influences of vanity and pride and selfishness that no petty spite can reach you, no
slander or abuse disturb your serene repose. As the storm rages ineffectually against a
well-built house, while its occupant sits composed and happy by his fire side within, so
no evil without can disturb or harm him who is well fortified with wisdom; self-governed
and silent, he remains at peace within. To this great silence the self-conquered man
attains.

"Envy and calumny, and hate and pain, And that unrest which men miscall delight, Can
touch him not, nor torture him again "

There is no commoner error amongst men than that of supposing that nothing can be
accomplished without much talking and much noise. The busy, shallow talker regards
the quiet thinker or silent doer as a man wasted; he thinks silentness means "doing
nothing, and that hurrying, bustling, and ceaseless talking means "doing much." He also
confounds popularity with power. But the thinker and doer is the real and effectual
worker. His work is at the root and core and substance of things, and as Nature silently,
yet with hidden and wondrous alchemy, transmutes the rude elements of earth and air
into tender leaves, beautiful flowers, delectable fruits, - yea into a myriad forms of beauty
- even so does the silent purposeful worker transform the ways of men and the face of
the world by the might and magic of his silently-directed energy. He wastes no time and
force in tinkering with the ever-changing and artificial surface of things, but goes to the
living vital centre, and works therefrom and thereon; and in due season, perhaps when
his perishable form is withdrawn from the world, the fruits of his obscure but
imperishable labours come forth to gladden the world. But the words of the talker perish.
The world reaps no harvest from the sowing of sound.

He who conserves his mental forces also conserves his physical forces. The strongly
quiet, calm man lives to a greater age, and in the possession of better health than the
hurrying, noisy man. Quiet, subdued mental harmony is conducive to physical harmony -
health. The followers of George Fox are today the healthiest, longest-lived and most
successful portion of the British community, and they live quiet, unostentatious,
purposeful lives, avoiding all worldly excitements and unnecessary words. They are a
silent people, all their meetings being conducted on the principle that "Silence is Power."

Silentness is powerful because it is the outcome of self-conquest, and the more

successfully a man governs himself the more silent he becomes. As he succeeds in
living to a purpose and not to the pleasures of self he withdraws himself from the outer
discords of the world and reaches to the inward music of peace. Then when he speaks
there is purpose and power behind his words, and when he maintains silence there is
equal or even greater power therein. He does not utter that which is followed by pain and
tears; does not do that which is productive of sorrow and remorse. But, saying and doing
those things only which are ripe with thoughtfulness, his conscience is quiet, and all his
days are blessed.
 Chapter 11: Solitude
"Why idly seek from outward things
The answer inward silence brings ?
Why climb the far-off hills with pain,
A nearer view of heaven to gain ?
In lowliest depths of bosky dells
The hermit Contemplation dwells,
Whence, piercing heaven, with screened sight,
He sees at noon the stars, whose light
Shall glorify the coming night."

----Whittier

"In the still hour when passion is at rest

Gather up stores of wisdom in thy breast."

----Wordsworth.

Man’s essential being is inward, invisible, spiritual, and as such it derives its life,
strength, from within, not from without. Outward things are channels through which its
energies are expended, but for renewal it must fall back on the inward silence.

In so far as man strives to drown this silence in the noisy pleasures of the senses, and
endeavours to live in the conflicts of outward things, just so much does he reap the
experiences of pain and sorrow, which, becoming at last intolerable, drive him back to
the feet of inward Comforter, to the shrine of the peaceful solitude within.

As the body cannot thrive on empty husks, neither can the spirit be sustained on empty
pleasures. If not regularly fed the body loses its vitality, and, pained with hunger and
thirst, cries out for food and drink. It is the same with the spirit: it must be regularly
nourished in solitude on pure and holy thoughts or it will lose its freshness and strength,
and will at last cry out in its painful and utter starvation. The yearning of an anguish-
stricken soul for light and consolation is the cry of a spirit that is perishing of hunger and
thirst. All pain and sorrow is spiritual starvation, and aspiration is the cry for food. It is the
Prodigal Son who, perishing of hunger, turns his face longingly towards his Father’s
home.

The pure life of the spirit cannot be found; but is lost, in the life of the senses. The lower
desires are ever clamorous for more, and they afford no rest. The outward world of
pleasure, personal contact, and noisy activities is a sphere of wear and tear which
necessitates the counterbalancing effect of solitude. Just as the body requires rest for
the recuperation of its forces, so the spirit requires solitude for the renewal of its
energies. Solitude is as indispensable to man’s spiritual welfare as sleep is to his bodily
well-being; and pure thought, or meditation, which is evoked in solitude, is to the spirit
what activity is to the body. As the body breaks down when deprived of the needful rest
and sleep, so do the spirits of men break down, being deprived of the necessary silence
and solitude. Man, as a spiritual being, cannot be maintained in strength, uprightness,
and peace except he periodically withdraw himself from the outer world of perishable
things and reach inwardly towards the abiding and imperishable realities. The
consolations of the creeds are derived from the solitude which those creeds enforce. The
regular observance of the ceremonies of formal religion, attended, as they are, with
concentrated silence and freedom from worldly distractions, compels men to do
unconsciously that which they have not yet learned to do consciously - namely, to
concentrate the mind periodically on the inward silence, and meditate, though very
briefly, on high and holy things. The man who has not learned to control and purify his
mind in seasons of chosen solitude, yet whose awakening aspirations grope for
something higher and nobler than he yet possesses, feels the necessity for the aid of
ceremonial religion; but he who has taken himself in hand with a view to self-conquest,
who withdraws into solitude in order to grapple with his lower nature, and masterfully
bend his mind in holy directions, requires no further aid from book or priest or Church.
The Church does not exist for the pleasure of the saint but for the elevation of the sinner.

In solitude a man gathers strength to meet the difficulties and temptations of life,
knowledge to understand and conquer them, and wisdom to transcend them. As a
building is preserved and sustained by virtue of the foundation which is hidden and
unobserved, so a man is maintained perpetually in strength and peace by virtue of his
lonely hour of intense thought which no eye beholds.

It is in solitude only that a man can be truly revealed to himself, that he can come to
understand his real nature, with all its powers and possibilities. The voice of the spirit is
not heard in the hubbub of the world and amid the clamours of conflicting desires. There
can be no spiritual growth without solitude.

There are those who shrink from too close a scrutiny of themselves, who dread too
complete a self revelation, and who fear that solitude which would leave them alone with
their own thoughts and call up before their mental vision the wraith of their desires. And
so they go where the din of pleasure is loudest and where the reproving voice of Truth is
drowned. But he who loves Truth, who desires and seeks wisdom, will be much alone.
He will seek the fullest, clearest revelation of himself, will avoid the haunts of frivolity and
noise, and will go where the sweet, tender voice of the spirit of Truth can speak within
him and be heard.

Men go after much company and seek out new excitements, but they are not acquainted
with peace; in diverse paths of pleasure they search for happiness but they do not come
to rest; through diverse ways of laughter and feverish delirium they wander after
gladness and life, but their tears are many and grievous, and they do not escape death.

Drifting upon the ocean of life in search of selfish indulgences men are caught in its
storms and only after many tempests and much privation do they fly to the Rock of
Refuge which rests in the deep silence of their own being.

While a man is absorbed in outward activities he is giving out his energies and is
becoming spiritually weaker, and in order to retain his moral vigour he must resort to
solitary meditation. So needful is this that he who neglects it loses or does not attain the
right knowledge of life; nor does he comprehend and overcome those most deeply
rooted and subtlest of sins which appear like virtues deceiving the elect, and to which all
but the truly wise succumb.

"True dignity abides with him alone,

Who, in the silent hour of inward thought,
Can still suspect and still revere himself
In lowliness of heart."

He who lives, without ceasing in outward excitement lives most in disappointments and
griefs. Where the sounds of pleasure are greatest heart-emptiness is the keenest and
deepest. He, also, whose whole life, even if not one of lust for pleasure, is centered in
outward works, who deals only with the changing panorama of visible things, never
falling back, in solitude, upon the inner and invisible world of permanent being, such a
man does not attain knowledge and wisdom, but remains empty; he cannot aid the
world, cannot feed its aspirations, for he has no food to offer it, his spiritual store being
empty. But he who courts solitude in order to search for the truth of things, who subdues
his senses and makes quite his desires, such a man is daily attaining knowledge and
wisdom; he becomes filled with the spirit of truth; he can aid the world, for his spiritual
store is full, and is kept well replenished.

While a man is absorbed in the contemplation of inward realities he is receiving

knowledge and power; he opens himself, like a flower, to the universal light of Truth, and
receives and drinks in its life-imparting rays; he also goes to the eternal foundation of
knowledge and quenches his thirst in its inspiring waters. Such a man gains, in one hour
of concentrated thought, more essential knowledge than a whole year’s reading could
impart. Being is infinite and knowledge is illimitable and its source inexhaustible, and he
who draws upon the innermost depths of his being drinks from the spring of divine
wisdom which can never run dry, and quaffs the waters of immortality.

It is this habitual association with the deep realities of being, this continual drinking in of
the Water of Life at its perennial source, that constitutes genius. The resources of genius
are inexhaustible because they are drawn from the original and universal source, and for
the same reason the works of genius are ever new and fresh. The more a genius gives
out the fuller he becomes. With the accomplishment of every work his mind extends and
expands, reaches out more vastly, and sees wider and ever wider ranges of power. The
genius is inspired. He has bridged the gulf between the finite and infinite. He needs no
secondary aids, but draws from that universal spring which is the source of every noble
work. The difference between a genius and an ordinary man is this - the one lives in
inward realities, the other in outward appearances; the one goes after pleasure, the
other after wisdom; the one relies on books, the other relies upon his own being. Book-
learning is good when its true place is understood, but is not the source of wisdom. The
source of wisdom is in life itself, and is comprehended by effort, practice, and
experience. Books give information but they cannot bestow knowledge; they can
stimulate but cannot accomplish - you must put forth effort, and achieve for yourself. The
man who relies entirely upon books, and does not go to the silent resources within
himself, is superficial, and becomes rapidly exhausted. He is uninspired (though he may
be extremely clever), for he soon reaches the end of his stock of information, and so
becomes void and repetitious. His works lack the sweet spontaneity of life and ever-
renewed freshness of inspiration. Such a man has cut himself off from the infinite supply
and deals, not with life itself, but with dead or decaying appearances. Information is
limited; knowledge is boundless.

The inspiration of genius and greatness is fostered, evolved, and finally completed in
solitude. The most ordinary man who conceives a noble purpose, and, summoning all
his energies and will, broods upon and ripens his purpose in solitude will accomplish his
object and become a genius. The man who renounces the pleasure of the world, who
avoids popularity and fame, and who works in obscurity and thinks in solitude for the
accomplishment of a lofty ideal for the human race, becomes a seer and a prophet. He
who silently sweetens his heart, who attunes his mind to that which is pure and beautiful
and good, who in long hours of lonely contemplation strives to reach to the central an
eternal heart of things, brings himself in touch with the inaudible harmonies of being,
opens himself for the reception of the cosmic song, and becomes at last a singer and a
poet.

And so with all genius: it is the child of solitude - a very simple-hearted child - wide-eyed
and listening and beautiful, yet withal to the noise-enamoured world an
incomprehensible mystery, of which it is only now and then vouchsafed a glimpse from
beyond the well-guarded Portals of Silence.

"In man’s self arise August anticipations; symbols, types Of a dim splendour ever on
before In that eternal circle life pursues." St.Paul, the cruel persecutor and blind bogot,
after spending three years alone in the desert, comes forth a loving apostle and an
inspired seer. Gautama Siddhartha, the man of the world, after six years (in the forest) of
lonely struggle with his passions and intense meditation upon the deep mysteries of his
nature, becomes Buddha, the enlightened one, the embodiment of calm, serene wisdom,
to whom a heart-thirsty world turns to refreshing waters of immortality. Lao-tze, an
ordinary citizen filling a worldly office, in his search for knowledge courts solitude, and
discovers Tao, the Supreme Reason, by virtue of which he becomes a world-teacher.
Jesus, the unlettered carpenter, after many years of solitary communion upon the
mountains with the Unfailing Love and Wisdom, comes forth a blessed saviour of
mankind.

Even after they had attained, and had scaled the lofty heights of divine knowledge these
Great Souls were much alone, and retired frequently for brief seasons of solitude. The
greatest man will fall from his moral height and lose his influence if he neglects that
renewal of power which can only be obtained in solitude. These Masters attained their
power by consciously harmonising their thoughts and lives with the creative energies
within themselves, and by transcending individuality and sinking their petty personal will
in the Universal Will they became Masters of Creative Thought, and stand as the loftiest
instruments for the outworking of cosmic evolution.

And this is not miraculous, it is a matter of law; it is not mysterious except in so far as law
is mysterious. Every man becomes a creative master in so far as he subordinate himself
to the universally good and true. Every poet, painter, saint, and sage is the mouth-piece
of the Eternal. The perfection of the message varies with the measure of individual
selflessness. In so far as self intervenes the distinctness of the work and message
becomes blurred. Perfect selflessness is the acme of genius, the consummation of
power.

Such self-abnegation can only be begun, pursued, and completed in solitude. A man
cannot gather together and concentrate his spiritual forces while he is engaged in
spending those forces in worldly activities, and although after power is attained the
balance of forces can be maintained under all circumstances, even in the midst of the
antagonistic throng, such power is only secured after many years of frequent and
habitual solitude.

Man’s true Home is in the Great Silence - this is the source of all that is real and abiding
within him; his present nature, however, is dual, and outer activities are necessary.
Neither entire solitude nor entire action is the true life in the world, but that is the true life
which gathers, in solitude, strength and wisdom to rightly perform the activities of life;
and as a man returns to his home in the evening, weary with labour, for that sweet rest
and refreshment which will prepare him for another day’s toil, so must he would not
break down in the labour of life come away form the noise and toil of the world’s great
workshop and rest for brief periods in his abiding Home in the Silence. He who does this,
spending some portion of each day in sacred and purposeful solitude, will become
strong and useful and blessed.

Solitude is for the strong, or for those who are ready to become strong. When a man is
becoming great, he becomes solitary. He goes in solitude to seek, and that which he
seeks, he finds, for there is a Way to all knowledge, all wisdom, all truth, all power. And
the Way is for ever open, but it lies through soundless solitudes and the unexplored
silences of man’s being.
 Chapter 12: Standing Alone
"By all means use to be alone,
Salute thyself; see what thy soul doth wear."

----George Herbert.

He that has light within his own clear breast

My sit in the center and enjoy bright day."

----Milton.

In the life of blessedness self-reliance is of the utmost importance. If there is no peace

there must be strength; if there is to be security there must be stability; if there is to be
lasting joy there must be no leaning upon things which at any moment may be snatched
away for ever.

A man does not commence to truly live until he finds an immovable center within himself
on which to stand, by which to regulate his life, and from which to draw his peace. If he
trusts to that which fluctuates he also will fluctuate; if he leans upon that which may be
withdrawn he will fall and be bruised; if he looks for satisfaction in perishable
accumulations he will starve for happiness in the midst of plenty.

Let a man learn to stand alone, looking to no one for support; expecting no favours,
craving no personal advantages; not begging, nor complaining, not craving, nor
regretting, but relying upon the truth within himself, deriving his satisfaction and comfort
from the integrity of his own heart.

If a man can find no peace within himself where shall he find it? If he dreads to be alone
with himself what steadfastness shall he find in company? If he can find no joy in
communion with his own thoughts how shall he escape misery in his contact with
others? The man who has yet found nothing within himself upon which to stand will
nowhere find a place of constant rest.

Men everywhere are deluded by the superstition that their happiness rests with other
people and with outward things, and, as a result, they live in continual disappointments,
regrets, and lamentations. The man who does not look for happiness to any others or to
external things, but finds within himself its inexhaustible source, will be self-contained
and serene under all circumstances, and will never become the helpless victim of misery
and grief. The man who looks to others for support, who measures his happiness by the
conduct of others and not by his own, who depends upon their co-operation for his
peace of mind - such a man has no spiritual foothold, his mind is tossed hither and
thither with the continual changes going on around him, and he lives in that ceaseless
ebb and flow of the spirits which is wretchedness and unrest. He is a spiritual cripple,
and has yet to learn how to maintain his mental center of gravity, and so go without the
aid of crutches.

As a child learns to walk in order to go about from place to place of itself strong and
unaided, so should a man learn to stand alone, to judge and think and act for himself,
and to choose, in the strength of his own mind, the oath-way which he shall walk.

Without is change and decay and insecurity, within is all surety and blessedness. The
soul is sufficient of itself. Where the need is there is the abundant supply. Your eternal
dwelling-place is within; go there and take possession of your mansion; there you are a
king, elsewhere you are a vassal. Be contended that others shall manage or mismanage
their own little kingdom, and see to it that you reign strongly over your own. Your entire
well-being and the well-being of the whole world lies there. You have a conscience,
follow it; you have a mind, clarify it; you have a judgment, use and improve it; you have a
will, employ and strengthen it; you have knowledge, increase it; there is a light within
your soul, watch it, tend it, encourage it, shield it from the winds of passion, and help it to
burn with a steadier and ever steadier radiance. Leave the world and come back to
yourself. Think as a man, act as a man, live as a man. Be rich in yourself, be complete in
yourself. Find the abiding center within you and obey it. The earth is maintaining its orbit
by its obedience to its center the sun. Obey the center of light that is within you; let
others call it darkness if they will. You are responsible for yourself, are accountable to
yourself, therefore rely upon yourself. If you fear yourself who will place confidence in
you? If you are untrue to yourself where shall you find the sweet satisfaction of Truth?

The great man stands alone in the simple dignity of independent manhood; he pursues
his own path fearlessly, and does not apologise or "beg leave." Criticism and applause
are no more to him than the dust upon his coat, of which he shakes himself free. He is
not guided by the changing opinions of men but guides himself by the light of his own
mind. Other men barter away their manhood for messes of flattery or fashion.

Until you can stand alone, looking for guidance neither to spirits nor mortals, gods nor
men, but guiding yourself by the light of the truth within you, you are not unfettered and
free, not altogether blessed. But do not mistake pride for self-reliance. To attempt to
stand upon the crumbling foundation of pride is to be already fallen. No man depends
upon others more than the proud man. He drinks in their approbation and resents their
censure. He mistakes flattery for sound judgment, and is most easily hurt or pleased by
the opinions of others. His happiness is entirely in the hands of others. But the self-
reliant man stands, not upon personal pride, but on an abiding law, principle, ideal,
reality within himself. Upon this he poises himself, refusing to be swept from his strong
foothold either by the waves of passion within or the storms of opinion without, but
should he at any time lose his balance he quickly regains himself, and is fully restored.
His happiness is entirely in his own hands.

Find your center of balance and succeed in standing alone, and, whatever your work in
life may be, you will succeed; you will accomplish what you set your mind upon , for the
truly self-reliant man is the invincible man. But though you do not rely upon others, learn
of them. Never cease to increase in knowledge, and be ever ready to receive that which
is good and useful. You can not have too much humility; the most self-reliant men are
the most humble. "No aristocrat, no prince born to the purple, can begin to compare with
the self-respect of the saint. Why is he lowly, but that he knows that he can well afford it,
resting on the largeness of God in him." Learn of all men, and especially of the masters
of Truth, but do not lose your hold upon the truth that the ultimate guidance is in yourself.
A master can say : "Here is the path," but he can neither compel you to walk it nor walk it
for you. You must put forth your own efforts , must achieve by your own strength, must
make his truth your truth by your own unaided exertions; you must implicitly trust
yourself.

"This thing is God - to be Man with thy might,

To grow great in the strength of thy spirit,
And live out thy life as the light."

You are to be master of yourself, lord over yourself, not fawning and imitating, but doing
your work as a living, vital portion of the universe; giving love but not expecting it; giving
sympathy but not craving for it; giving aid but not depending upon it. If men should
censure your work, heed them not. It sufficeth that your work be true: rest you in this
sufficiency. Do not ask : "Will my work please?" but : "Is it real?" If your work be true the
criticism of men cannot touch it; if it be false their disapproval will not slay it quicker than
it will die of itself. The words and acts of Truth cannot pass away until their work is fully
accomplished; the words and acts of error cannot remain, for they have no work to do.
Criticism and resentment are alike superfluous.

Free yourself from the self-imposed tyranny of slavish dependence, and stand alone, not
as an isolated unit, but as a sympathetic portion of the whole. Find the Joy that results
from well -earned freedom, the peace that flows from wise self-possession, the
blessedness that inheres in native strength.

"Honour to him who, self-complete, if lone,

Carves to the grave one pathway all his own,
And heeding naught that men may think or say,
Asks but his soul if doubtful of the way."
 Chapter 13:
Understanding the Simple Laws Of Life
"Watch narrowly
The demonstration of a truth, its birth,
And you trace back the effluence to its spring
And source within us."

----Browning.

"More is the treasure of law than gems;

Sweeter than comb its sweetness. Its delights,
Delightful past compare."

----The Light of Asia.

WALKING those byways which I have so far pointed out, resting in their beauty and
drinking in their blessedness, the pilgrim along life's broad highway will in due time come
to one wherein his last burden will fall from him, where all his weariness will pass away,
where he will drink of light-hearted liberty, and rest in perpetual peace. And this most
blessed of spiritual byways, the richest source of strength and comfort, I call The Right
Understanding of the Simple Laws of Life. He who comes to it leaves behind him all
lack and longing, all doubt and perplexity, all sorrow and uncertainty. He lives in the
fulness of satisfaction, in light and knowledge, in gladness and surety. He who
comprehends the utter simplicity of life, who obeys its laws and does not step aside into
the dark paths and complex mazes of selfish desire, stands where no harm can reach
him, where no enemy can lay him low - and he doubts, desires, and sorrows no more.
Doubt ends where reality begins; painful desire ceases where the fulness of joy is
perpetual and complete; and when the Unfailing and Eternal Good is realised what room
is there for sorrow?

Human life when rightly lived is simple with a beautiful simplicity, but it is not rightly lived
while it is bound to a complexity of lusts, desires, and wants- these are not the real life
but the burning fever and painful disease which originate in an unenlightened condition
of mind. The curtailing of one's desires is the beginning of wisdom; their entire mastery
its consummation. This is so because life is bounded by law, and ,being inseparable
from law, life has no need that is not already supplied. Now lust, or desire, is not need,
but a rebellious superfluity, and as such it leads to deprivation and misery. The prodigal
son, while in his father's house, not only had all that he required, but was surrounded by
a superabundance. Desire was not necessary, because all things were at hand; but
when desire entered his heart he "went into a far country," and "began to be in want,"
and it was only when he became reduced to the utmost extremity of starvation that he
turned with longing towards his father's home. This parable is symbolical of the evolution
of the individual and the race. Man has come into such a complexity of cravings that he
lives in continual discontent, dissatisfaction, want, and pain; and his only cure lies in a
return to the Father's Home - that is, to actual living or being as distinguished from
desiring. But a man does not do this until he is reduced to the last extremity of spiritual
starvation ; he has then reaped the experience of pain and sorrow as the result of desire,
and looks back with longing towards the true life of peace and plenty; and so he turns
round, and begins his toilsome journey back towards his Home, towards that rich life of
simple being wherein is emancipation from the thraldom and fever and hunger of desire,
and this longing for the true life, for Truth, Reality, should not be confounded with desire:
it is aspiration. Desire is the craving for possession:aspiration is the hunger of the
heart for peace. The craving for things leads ever farther and farther from peace, and
not only ends in deprivation but is, in itself, a state of perpetual want. Until it comes to an
end rest, satisfaction , is an impossibility. The hunger for things can never be satisfied,
but the hunger for peace can and the satisfaction of peace is found, is fully possessed,
when all selfish desire is abandoned. Then there is fulness of joy, abounding plenty, and
rich and complete blessedness. In this supremely blessed state life is comprehended in
its perfect symmetry and simplicity and the acme of power and usefulness is attained.
Then even the hunger for peace ceases, for peace becomes the normal condition, is
fully possessed, constant and never-varying. Men, immersed in desire, ignorantly
imagine that the conquest of desire, leads to inactivity, loss of power, and lifelessness.
Instead , it leads to highly concentrated activity, to the full employment of power, and to a
life so rich, so glorious, and so abundantly blessed as to be incomprehensible to those
who hunger for pleasures and possessions. Of this life only can it be said:

"Here are no sounds of discord - no profane

Or senseless gossip of unworthy things-
Only the songs of chisels and of pens,
Of busy brushes, and ecstatic strains
Of souls surcharged with music most divine
Here is no idle sorrow, no poor grief
For any day or object left behind -
For time is counted precious, and herein
Is such complete abandonment of Self
That tears turn into rainbows, and enhance
The beauty of the land where all is fair."

When a man is rescued from selfish desire his mind is unencumbered, and he is free to
work for humanity. No longer racing after those gratifications which leave him hungry
 still, all his powers are at his immediate command. Seeking no rewards he can
concentrate all his energies upon the faultless completion of his duties, and so
accomplish all things and fulfill all righteousness.

The fully enlightened and fully blessed man is not prompted to action be desire but
works from knowledge. The man of desire needs the promise of reward to urge him to
action. He is as a child working for the possession of a toy. But the man of knowledge,
living in the fulness of life and power, can at any moment bring his energies into
requisition for the accomplishment of that which is necessary. He is, spiritually, a full-
grown man; for him all rewards have ceased; to him all occurrences are good; he lives
always in complete satisfaction. Such a man has attained to life, and his delight ( and it
is a sweet, perpetual, and never-failing delight) is in obedience to the simple demands of
exact and never-failing law.

But this life of supreme blessedness is an end, and the pilgrim who is striving towards it,
the prodigal returning to it, must travel thither, and employ means to get there. He must
pass through the country of his animal desires, disentangling himself from their
intricacies, simplifying them, overcoming them; this is the way, and he has no enemies
but what spring within himself. At first the way seems hard because, blinded by desire,
he does not perceive the simple structure of life, and its laws are hidden from him; but as
he becomes more simple in his mind the direct laws of life become unfolded to his
spiritual perception, and at once the point is reached where these laws begin to be
understood and obeyed; then the way becomes plain and easy; there is no more
uncertainty and darkness, but all is seen in the clear light of knowledge.

It will help to accelerate the progress of the searcher for the true and blessed life if we
now turn to a consideration of some of these simple laws which are rigidly mathematical
in their operations.

"The elementary laws never apologise."

All life is one, though it has a diversity of manifestations; all law is one, but it is applicable
and operative in a variety of ways. There is not one law for matter and another for mind,
not one for the material and visible and another for the spiritual and invisible; there is the
same law throughout. There is not one kind of logic for the world and another for the
spirit, but the same logic is applicable to both. Men faithfully, and with unerring worldly
wisdom, observe certain laws or rules of action in material things, knowing that to ignore
or disobey them would be great folly on their part, ending in disaster for themselves and
confusion for society and the state, but they err in supposing and believing that the same
rules do not apply in spiritual things, and thereby suffer for their ignorance and
disobedience.
It is a law in worldly things that a man shall support himself, that he shall earn his living,
and that "He that will not work, neither shall he eat." Men observe this law, recognising
its justice and goodness, and so earn the necessary material sustenance. But in spiritual
things men, broadly speaking, deny and ignore the operation of this law. They think that,
while it is absolutely just that a man should earn his material bread, and that the man
who shirks this law should wander in rags ands want, it is right that they should beg for
their spiritual bread, think it to be just that they should receive all spiritual blessings
without either deserving or attempting to earn them. The result is that most men wander
in spiritual beggary and want - that is, in suffering and sorrow - deprived of spiritual
sustenance, of joy and knowledge and peace.

If you are in need of any worldly thing - food, clothing, furniture, or other necessary - you
do not beg of the storekeeper to give it to you; you ask the price of it, pay for it with your
money, and then it becomes your own. You recognise the perfect justice in giving an
equivalent for what you receive, and would not wish it to be otherwise. The same just law
prevails in spiritual things. If you are in need of any spiritual thing - joy, assurance,
peace, or whatelse soever - you can only come into full possession of it by giving an
equivalent; you must pay the price for it. As you must give a portion of your material
substance for a worldly thing so you must give a portion of your immaterial substance for
a spiritual thing. You must yield up some passion or lust or vanity or indulgence before
the spiritual possession can be yours. The miser who clings to his money and will not
give up any of it because of the pleasure which its possession affords him cannot have
any of the material comforts of life. He lives in continual want and discomfort in spite of
all his wealth. The man who will not give up his passions, who clings to anger,
unkindness, sensuality, pride, vanity, self-indulgence, for the momentary pleasure which
their gratification affords him is a spiritual miser; he cannot have any spiritual comforts,
and suffers continual spiritual want and uneasiness in spite of the wealth of worldly
pleasures which he fondly hugs and refuses to give up.

The man who is wise in worldly things neither begs nor steals, but labours and
purchases, and the world honours him for his uprightness. The man who is wise in
spiritual things neither begs nor steals, but labours in his own inner world, and purchases
his spiritual possessions. Him the whole universe honours for his righteousness.

It is another law in worldly things that a man who engages himself to another in any form
of employment shall be content with the wages upon which he agreed. If at the end of
his week's work, and on receiving his wages, he were to ask his employer for a larger
sum, pleading that, though he could not justly claim it and did not really deserve it, yet he
expected it, he would not only not receive the larger sum but would, doubtless, be
discharged from his post. Yet in spiritual things men do not think it to be either foolish or
selfish to ask for those blessings - spiritual wages - upon which they never agreed, for
which they never laboured, and which they do not deserve. Every man gets from the law
of the universe that upon which he agrees and for which he works - no more, no less;
and he is continually entering into agreements with the Supreme Law - the Master of the
universe. For every thought and act which he gives he receives its just equivalent; for all
work done in the form of deeds he receives the wages due to him. Knowing this, the
enlightened man is always content, always satisfied, and in perfect peace, knowing that
whatever he receives (be it that men call misfortune or good fortune) he has earned. The
Great Law never cheats any man of his just due, but it says to the railer and the
complainer "Friend didst thou not agree with me for a penny a day?"

Again, if a man would grow rich in worldly goods he must economise, and husband his
financial resources until he has accumulated sufficient capital to invest in some branch of
industry; then he must judiciously invest his little store of capital, neither holding it too
tightly nor letting it go carelessly. He thus increases both in worldly wisdom and worldly
riches. The idle spendthrift cannot grow rich; he is wasteful and riotous. He who would
grow rich in spiritual things must also economise, and husband his mental resources. He
must curb his tongue and his impulses, not wasting his energy in idle gossip, vain
argument, or excesses of temper. In this way he will accumulate a little store of wisdom
which is his spiritual capital, and this he must send out into the world for the good of
others, and the more he uses it the richer will he become. Thus does a man increase in
both heavenly wisdom and heavenly riches. The man who follows his blind impulses and
desires and does not control and govern his mind is a spiritual spendthrift. He can never
become rich in divine things.

It is a physical law that if we would reach the summit of a mountain we must climb
thither. The path must be sought and then carefully followed, and the climber must not
give up and go back because of the labour involved and the difficulties to be overcome,
nor on account of aching climbs, otherwise his object cannot be accomplished. And this
law is also spiritual. He who would reach the high altitudes of moral or intellectual
grandeur must climb thither by his own efforts. He must seek out the pathway and then
assiduosly follow it, not giving up and turning back, but surmounting all difficulties, and
enduring for a time trials, temptations, and heartaches, and at last he will stand upon the
glorious summit of moral perfection, the world of passion, temptation, and sorrow
beneath his feet, and the boundless heavens of dignity stretching vast and silent above
his head.

If a man would reach a distant city, or any place of destination, he must travel thither.
There is no law by which he can be instantly transported there. He can only get there by
putting forth the necessary exertion. If he walks he will put forth great exertion, but it will
cost him nothing in money; if he drives or takes train, there will be less actual labour, but
he must pay in money for which he has laboured. To reach any place requires labour;
this cannot be avoided; it is law. Equally so spiritually. He who would reach any spiritual
destination, such as purity, compassion, wisdom, or peace, must travel thither, and must
labour to get there. There is no law by which he can suddenly be transported to any of
these beautiful spiritual cities. He must find the most direct route and then put forth the
necessary labour, and at last he will come to the end of his journey.

These are but a few of the many laws, or manifestations of the One Great Law, which
are to be understood, applied and obeyed before the full manhood and maturity of
spiritual life and blessedness can be attained. There is no worldly or physical law which
is not operative, with equal exactness, in the spiritual realm - that is, the inner and
invisible world of man’s beings. Just as physical things are the shadows and types, of
spiritual realities so worldly wisdom is the reflected image of Divine Wisdom. All those
simple operations of human life in worldly things which men never question, but follow
and obey implicitly because of their obvious plainness and exactness, obtain in spiritual
things with the same unerring accuracy; and when this is understood, and these laws are
as implicitly obeyed in spiritual as in worldly matters, then has a man reached the firm
standing-ground of exact knowledge; his sorrows are at an end, and he can doubt no
more.

Life is uninvolved, uncompromising justice; its operations are simple, invincible logic.
Law reigns for ever, and the heart of law is love. Favouritism and caprice are the reverse
of both law and love. The universe has no favourites; it is supremely just, and gives to
every man his rightful earnings. All is good because all his according to law, and
because all his according to law, man can find the right way in life, and, having found it,
can rejoice and be glad. The Father of Jesus is the Unfailing Good which is embodied in
the law of things. "No evil can happen to a good man either in life or death." Jesus
recognised the good in his own fate, and exonerated all his persecutors from blame. "No
man," he declared, "taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself." That is, he
himself had brought about his own end.

He who has, by simplifying his life and purifying his mind, arrived at an understanding of
the beautiful simplicity of being, perceives the unvarying operation of law in all things,
and knows the result of all his thoughts and deeds upon himself and the world - knows
what effects are bound up with the mental causes which he sets in motion. He then
thinks and does only those thoughts and deeds that are blessed in their inception,
blessed in their growth, and blessed in their completion. Humbly accepting the lawful
results of all the deeds done when in a state of ignorance, he neither complains nor fears
nor questions, but is at rest in obedience, is perfectly blessed in his knowledge of the
Good Law.

"The tissue of our life to be

We weave with colours all our own,
 And in the field of Destiny
We reap as we have sown.

"And if we reap as we have sown,

And take the dole we deal,
The law of pain is love alone,
The wounding is to heal."
 Chapter 14: Happy Endings
"Such is the Law which moves to righteousness,
Which none at last can turn aside or stay;
The heart of it is Love, the end of it
Is peace and consummation sweet. Obey."

-----The Light of Asia.

"So, haply, when thy task shall end,

The wrong shall lose itself in right,
And all thy week-day Sabbaths blend
With the long Sabbath of the Light!"

----Whittier

Life has many happy endings, because it has much that is noble and pure and beautiful.
Although there is much sin and ignorance in the world, many tears, and much pain and
sorrow, there is also much purity and knowledge, many smiles, and much healing and
gladness. No pure thought, no unselfish deed can fall short of its felicitous result, and
every such result is a happy consummation.

A pleasant home is a happy ending; a successful life is a happy ending; a task well and
faithfully done is a happy ending; to be surrounded by kind friends is a happy ending. A
quarrel put away, grudges wiped out, unkind words confessed and forgiven, friend
restored to friend - all these are happy endings. To find that which one has long and
tediously sought; to be restored from tears to gladness; to awaken in the bright sunlight
out of the painful nightmare of sin, to strike, after much searching, the Heavenly Way in
life - these are, indeed, blessed consummations.

He who looks for, finds, and enters the byways which I have indicated will come to this
one without seeking it, for his whole life will be filled with happy endings. He who begins
right and continues right does not need to desire and search for felicitous results; they
are already at hand; they follow as consequences; they are the certainties, the realities
of life.

There are happy endings which belong solely to the material world; these are transient,
and they pass away. These are happy endings which belong to the spiritual world; these
are eternal, and they do not pass away. Sweet are companionships, pleasures, and
material comforts, but they change and fade away. Sweeter still are Purity, Wisdom, and
the knowledge of Truth, and these never change nor fade away. Wherever a man goes
in this world he can take his worldly possessions with him; but soon he must part
company with them, and if he stands upon these alone, deriving all his happiness from
them, he will come to a spiritual ending of great emptiness and want. But he has attained
to the possession of spiritual things can never be deprived of his source of happiness: he
will never have to part company with it, and wherever he goes in the whole universe he
will carry his possession with him. His spiritual end will be the fulness of joy.

Happy in the Eternal Happiness is he who has come to that Life from which the thought
of self is abolished. Already, even now and in this life, he has entered the Kingdom of
Heaven, Nirvana, Paradise, the New Jerusalem, the Olympus of Jupiter, the Valhalla of
the Gods. He knows the Final Unity of Life, the Great Reality of which these fleeting and
changing names are but feeble utterances. He is at rest on the bosom of the Infinite.

Sweet is the rest and deep the bliss of him who has freed his heart from its lusts and
hatreds and dark desires; and he who, without any shadow of bitterness or selfishness
resting upon him, and looking out upon the world with boundless compassion and love,
can breathe, in his inmost heart, the blessing:

Peace unto all living things,

making no exceptions or distinctions - such a man has reached that happy ending which
can never be taken away, for this is the perfection of life, the fullness of peace, the
consummation of perfect blessedness.

THE END